LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


/ 


ft* 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 
PEN  AND  VOICE 

BEING  A    COMPLETE    COMPILATION    OF    HIS 

LETTERS 

CIVIL.    POLITICAL,    AND    MILITARY 

ALSO 

HIS  PUBLIC  ADDRESSES,  MESSAGES  TO  CONGRESS 

INAUGURALS   AND  OTHERS 

AS   WELL  AS 

PROCLAMATIONS  UPON  VARIOUS  PUBLIC  CONCERNS,  SHOWING  HIM 

TO    HAVE    BEEN    THE    GREATEST   CONSTITUTIONAL    STUDENT 

OF  THE  AGE,  AND  THE  NOBLEST  PATTERN  FOR  FUTURE 

GENERATIONS   AMERICA    HAS    EVER    KNOWN 

BY 

G.    M.  VAN   BUREN 

Late  Colonel  U.  S.  Vols. 

WITH    A     FIXE    STEEL     PORTRAIT 


CINCINNATI 

ROBERT    CLARKE    k    CO 

1890 


Copyright,   1890, 
By    O.    M.    VAN    BUREN. 


PRILL'S 


^Dedicated  to  th  ffiemoiT 


OF 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN, 


GRANDSON   OF  THE 


By  his  lamented  death  the  ancestral  name  becomes  extinct. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  author  feels  that  no  one  man  can  say  what 
ought  to  he  said  of  that  great  statesman,  renowned 
president,  and  nohle  martyr — Abraham  Lincoln — 
and  therefore  begs  leave  to  present  as  a  preface  what 
has  been  said  of  him  by  the  greatest  men  of  our 
times. 

[From  Lincoln's  Memorial.] 

Sprung  from  the  people,  with  no  ancestral  renown 
or  services,  with  none  of  the  auxiliaries  which  wealth, 
social  position,  or  academic  honors  afford  the  mass  of 
aspirants  to  great  public  honors,  Abraham  Lincoln 
rose  step  by  step  to  the  highest  station  in  the  gift  of 
his  fellow-countrymen 

And  although  party  virulence,  which  in  our  press 
has  no  check,  persistently  coupled  his  name  with 
odious  epithets,  there  has  never  been  the  slightest 
charge  of  any  thing  to  detract  from  a  ltiirh  moral 
character.  He  was  too  great  to  stoop  to  vile  means  to 
accomplish  his  ends 

No  CVsar  he,  whom  we  lament, 
A  man  without  a  precedent, 
Sent,  it  would  seem,  to  do 
His  work,  and  perish  too! 

[From  a  Speech  by  General  B.  F.  Butler,  in  New  York  City.] 

Fellow  Citizens: — But  a  day  or  two  since  we  assem- 
bled throughout  the  nation  in  joy,  gladness,  and 
triumph,  at  the  success  of  the  armies  of  the  republic, 

(v) 


VI  PREFACE. 

which  opened  to  us  the  promise  of  a  glorious  peace 
and  a  happy  country  in  the  future. 

These  flags  now  the  token  of  mourning,  were  then 
raised  in  gladness.  To-day,  in  a  short  hour,  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  has  been  struck  down  by  the  hand  of 
an  assassin,  and  we  assemble  to  mingle  our  grief  with 
that  of  the  loved  ones  at  home,  who  mourn  the  hon- 
est man,  the  incorruptible  patriot,  the  great  states- 
man, the  savior  of  his  countrv  in  its  crisis. 

[From  a  Speech  by  Hon.  Daniel  S.  Dickinson] 

It  is  not  merely  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln — 
great,  good,  patient,  faithful,  sincere  as  he  was — but  it 
is  the  great  nation  that  has  been  wounded  in  her 
Chief  Magistrate,  that  she  had,  with  great  and  un- 
usual eclat,  continued  in  the  position,  and  said,  "  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant." 

[From  a  Sermon  by  Rev.  Henry  W.  Bellows.] 

Our  beloved  president,  who  had  enshrined  himself 
not  merely  in  the  confidence,  the  respect,  and  the 
gratitude  of  the  people,  but  in  their  very  hearts,  as 
their  true  friend,  adviser,  representative,  and  brother; 
whom  the  nation  loved  as  much  as  it  revered,  who 
had  soothed  our  angry  impatience  in  this  fearful 
struggle  with  his  gentle  moderation  and  passionless 
calm  ;  who  had  been  the  head  of  the  nation,  and  not 
the  chief  of  a  successful  party;  and  had  treated  our 
enemies  like  rebellious  children,  and  not  as  foreign 
foes,  providing  even  in  their  chastisement  for  mercy 
and  penitent  restoration;  our  prudent,  firm,  humble, 
reverential,  God-fearing  president  is  dead. 


PREFACE.  Til 

[Archbishop  McClosky,  at  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  in  New  York.] 

We  pray  that  those  sentiments  of  mercy,  of  clem- 
ency, and  of  conciliation,  that  filled  the  heart  of  the 
beloved  president  we  have  just  lost,  may  animate  the 
heart  and  guide  the  actions  of  him  who  in  this  most 
trying  hour  is  called  to  till  his  place. 

(From  a  Sermon  by  his  Pastor,  Rev.  D.  Gurley.] 

I  have  said  that  the  people  confided  in  the  late 
lamented  president  with  a  full  and  a  loving  confidence. 
Probably  no  man,  since  the  days  of  Washington,  was 
ever  so  deeply  and  firmly  imbedded  and  enshrined  in 
the  very  hearts  of  the  people  as  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Nor  was  it  a  mistaken  confidence  and  love.  He  de- 
served it,  deserved  it  well,  deserved  it  all.  He  mer- 
ited it  by  his  character,  by  his  acts,  and  by  the  whole 
tenor,  and  tone  and  spirit  of  his  life.  He  was  simple 
and  sincere,  plain  and  honest,  truthful  and  just, 
benevolent  and  kind.  His  perceptions  were  quick 
and  clear,  his  judgments  were  calm  and  accurate, 
and  his  purposes  were  good  and  pure  beyond  a  ques- 
tion. Always  and  every-where  he  aimed,  and  en- 
deavored to  be  and  to  do  right.  His  integrity  was 
thorough,  all-pervading,  all-controlling,  and  incor- 
ruptible. 

[Tublic  Address  by  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson.] 

The  president  stood  before  us  as  a  man  of  the  peo- 
ple. He  was  thoroughly  American,  had  never  crossed 
the  sea,  had  never  been  spoiled  by  English  insularity 
or  French  dissipation  ;  a  quiet,  native,  aboriginal 
man,  as  an  acorn  from  the  oak;  no  aping  of  foreign- 
ers, no  frivolous  accomplishments,  Kentuckian  born, 
working  on  a  farm,  a  ilatboatman,  a  captain  in  the 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

Blackhawk  war.  a  country  lawyer,  a  representative 
in  the  rural  legislature  of  Illinois — on  such  modest 
foundation  the  broad  structure  of  his  fame  was  laid. 

How  slowly,  and  yet  by  happily  prepared  steps,  he 
came  to  his  place.  .  .  .  There,  by  his  courage, 
his  justice^  his  even  temper,  his  fertile  counsel,  his 
humanity,  ho  stood  an  heroic  figure  in  the  center  of 
an  heroic  epoch.  lie  is  the  true  history  of  the 
American  people  in  his  time. 

Step  by  step  lie  walked  before  them;  slow  with 
their  slowness,  quickening  his  march  by  theirs;  the 
true  representative  of  the  continent  ;  an  entirely 
public  man  ;  father  of  his  country,  the  pulse  of 
twenty  millions  throbbing  in  his  heart,  the  thought 
of  their  minds  articulated  by  his  tongue. 

{General  Bunks,  at  New  O-leans.] 

There  is  not  a  man  on  the  continent  or  Hobo  that 
will,  or  can,  say  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  his 
enemy:  or  that  he  deserved  punishment  or  death  for 
his  individual  acts.  No,  Mr.  President,  it  was  because 
he  represented  its  that  he  died,  and  it  is  for  our  good 
and  the  fflory  of  our  nation  that  God,  in  his  inseru- 
table  providence,  has  been  pleased  to  do  this,  while 
for  the  late  President  it  is  the  great  crowning  act  and 
security  of  his  career. 

[By  George  Bancroft.] 

But  after  every  allowance,  it  will  remain  that  mem- 
bers  o{  the  government  which  preceded  the  adminis- 
tration opened  the  gates  to  treason,  and  .he  closed 
them;  that  when  he  went  to  Washington  the  ground 

on  which  he  trod  shook  under  his  feet,  and  lie  left 


f  I  I  I    •'  I..  IX 

the  republic  on  ;<  solid  foundation  ;  thai  traitors  had 
seized  public  fort-  and  arsenals,  and  he  recovered 
them  for  the  LTnited  States,  to  whom  they  belonged; 
thai  the  Capital  which  he  found  the  abode  of 
i  now  only  the  home  of  the  free;  thai  the  boundless 
public  domain  which  was  gra  ped  at,  and,  in  a  g 
measure,  held  for  the  diffu  ion  of  slavery,  is  now  irre- 
■.  o<  ably  devoted  to  freedom. 

[Fr<  ra]  Oration. | 

But  t  be  greal  cause  of  the  mourning  i-  to  be  found 
in  the  man  himself.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  no  ordinary 
man,  and  I  believe  the  conviction  has  been  growing 
on  the  nation's  mind,  ae  il  certainly  has  been  on  my 
own,  especially  in  the  lasl  years  of  hie  administra* 
tion. 

By  tli«'  band  of  Grod  he  was  especially  singled  out 
to  guide  our  government  in  these  troublous  tin 
and  it  seems  to  me  thai  the  hand  of  God   may  be 
traced  in  many  events  connected  with  hi-  history. 

.mi  by  Rev  Henry  Ward  Beecher.] 

Who  shall  recount  our  martyr's  sufferings  fop  the 
people?  Since  the  November  of  I860,  hi-  horizon 
has  been  black  with  storms.  By  day  and  by  night 
he  trod  a  way  of  danger  and  darkne 

On  hi-  shoulders  rested  a  government,  dearer  t., 
him  than  his  own  life.  At  it-  life  millions  were 
striking  at  home ;  upon  it  foreign  eyes  were  lowered, 
and  it  stood  like  ;i  lone  island  in  ;i  sf-;i  full  of  storms, 
and  every  tide  and  wave  seemed  eager  t<,  devour  it. 

Upon  thousands  of  heart-  greal  Borrows  and  anx- 
ieties have  rested,  hut  upon  not  one  such,  and  in  such 


Xll  PREFACE. 

were  remarkable.     He  could,  upon  occasion,  rise  to 
the  most  sublime  flight  of  eloquence. 

His  little  introductory  speech  at  the  Gettysburg 
Cemetery  dedication  will  outlive  the  elaborate  and 
eloquent  oration  delivered  by  Mr.  Everett  on  the 
same  da  v. 

I  am  indebted  to  J.  C.  Power,  of  Springfield,  111., 
author  of  the  "  History  of  the  Attempt  to  Steal  the 
Body  of  Lincoln,''  for  the  use  of  the  plates  of  the 
two  views  of  the  "  Lincoln  Monument." 

Excavation  for  the  monument  commenced  Septem- 
ber 0,  1869.  It  is  built  of  granite  from  quarries  at 
Biddeford,  Maine.  The  rough  ashlars  were  shipped 
to  Quincy,  Mass.,  where  they  were  dressed  to  perfect 
ashlars  and  numbered,  thence  shipped  by  railroad  to 
Springfield.  It  is  72|  feet  from  east  to  west,  119§ 
feet  from  north  to  south,  and  100  feet  high.  The 
total  cost  is  about  $230,000,  to  May  1,  1888.  All  the 
statuary  is  orange-colored  bronze.  The  whole  monu- 
ment was  designed  by  Larkin  G.  Mead,  the  statuary 
was  modeled  in  plaster  by  him  in  Florence,  Italy,  and 
cast  by  the  Ames  Manufacturing  Co.,  of  Chicopee, 
Mass.  The  statue  of  Lincoln  and  coat  of  arms  were 
first  placed  on  the  monument;  the  statue  was  un- 
veiled and  the  monument  dedicated  October  15,  1874. 
The  infantry  and  naval  groups  were  put  on  in  Sep- 
tember, 1877,  the  artillery  group,  April  13,  1882,  and 
the  cavalry  group,  March  13,  1883. 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 
PEN  AND  VOICE. 


Mr.  Lincoln's  Verbal  Reply  to  Committee  Notifying 
him  of  his  Nomination  to  the  Presidency. 

At  Springfield,  III,  May  18,  1860. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee: — 
I  tender  to  you,  and  through  von  to  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  and  all  the  people  represented 
in  it,  my  profoundest  thanks  for  the  high  honor  done 
me,  which  yon  now  formally  announce. 

Deeply,  and  even  painfully  sensible  of  the  great 
responsibility  which  is  inseparable  from  the  high 
honor,  a  responsibility  which  I  could  almost  wish  had 
fallen  upon  some  one  of  the  far  more  eminent  men 
and  experienced  statesmen  whose  distinguished  names 
were  before  the  convention,  I  shall,  by  your  leave, 
consider  more  fully  the  resolutions  of  the  convention, 
denominated  the  platform,  and  without  any  unneces- 
sary or  unreasonable  delay,  report  to  you.  Mr.  Chair- 
man, in  writing,  not  doubting  that  the  platform  will 
be  found  satisfactory,  and  the  nomination  gratefully 
accepted.  And  now  I  will  no  longer  defer  the  pleas- 
ure of  taking  you,  and  each  of  you,  by  the  hand. 

(13J 


14  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

Springfield,  III,  May  23,  1860. 

Sir: — I  accept  the  nomination  tendered  me  by  the 
convention  over  which  you  presided,  of  which  1  am 
formally  appraised  in  a  letter  <>f  yourself  and  others 
acting  as  a  committee  of  the  convention  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

The  declaration  of  principles  and  sentiments  which 
accompanies  your  letter  meets  my  approval,  and  it 
shall  be  my  care  not  to  violate  it,  or  disregard  it.  in 
any  part.  Imploring  the  assistance  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, and  with  due  regard  to  the  views  and  feelings 
of  all  who  were  represented  in  the  convention,  to  the 
rights  of  all  the  states  and  territories  and  people  ot 
the  nation,  to  the  inviolability  of  the  constitution, 
and  the  perpetual  union,  harmony,  and  prosperity  of 
all ;  I  am  most  happy  to  co-operate  for  the  practical 
success  of  the  principles  declared  by  the  convention. 

Your  obliged  friend  and  fellow-citizen, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 
Hon.  George  Ashmun,  Prest.  Republican  Convention. 

Springfield,  III.,  August  15,  1860. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  9th,  enclosing  the 
letter  of  Hon.  John  Minor  Botts,  was  duly  received. 
The  latter  is  herewith  returned  according  to  your  re- 
quest. It  contains  one  of  the  many  assurances  I  re- 
ceive from  the  South,  that  in  no  probable  event  will 
there  be  any  very  formidable  effort  to  break  up  the 
Union.  The  people  of  the  South  have  too  much 
of  good  sense  and  good  temper  to  attempt  the  ruin  of 
the  government  rather  than  see  it  administered  as  it 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  15 

was  administered  by  the  men  who  made  it.     At  least, 
so  I  hope  and  believe. 

I  thank  yon  both  for  your  own  letter  and  a  sight  of 
that  of  Mr.  Botts.         Yours  very  truly, 
John  B.  Fry,  Esq.  A.  Lincoln. 

Abraham  Lincoln  to  Thurlow  Weed. 

Springfield,  III.,  August  17,  1860. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  13th  was  received 
this  morning.  Douglas  is  managing  the  Bell  ele- 
ment with  great  adroitness.  He  had  his  men  in 
Kentucky  to  vote  for  the  Bell  candidate,  producing  a 
result  which  has  badly  alarmed  and  damaged  Breck- 
enridffe,  and  at  the  same  time  has  induced  the  Bell 
men  to  suppose  that  Bell  will  certainly  be  President, 
if  they  can  keep  a  few  of  the  northern  states  away 
from  us  by  throwing  them  to  Douglas.  But  you, 
better  than  I,  can  understand  all  this. 

I  think  there  will  be  the  most  extraordinary  effort 
ever  made  to  carry  New  York  for  Douglas. 

You  and  all  others  who  write  me  from  your  state 
think  the  effort  can  not  succeed,  and  1  hope  you  are 
right.  Still  it  will  require  close  watching  and  great 
efforts  on  the  other  side.  Herewith  I  send  you  a  copy 
of  a  letter  written  at  New  York,  which  sufficiently 
explains  itself,  and  which  may  or  may  not  give  you  a 
valuable  hint.  You  have  seen  that  Bell  tickets  have 
been  put  on  the  track  both  here  and  in  Indiana.  In 
both  cases  the  object  has  been,  I  think,  the  same  as 
the  Hunt  movement  in  New  York— to  throw  states 
to  Douglas. 

In  our  state  we  know  the  thing  is  engineered  by 


16  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Douglas  men,  and  we  do  not  believe  they  can  make  a 
great  deal  out  of  it,         Yours  very  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

The  President  Elect  to  Thurlow  Weed. 

Springfield,  III.,  December  17,  1860. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  eleventh  was  received 
two  days  ago.  Should  the  convention  of  governors 
of  which  you  speak  seem  desirous  to  know  my  views 
on  the  present  aspect  of  things,  tell  them  you  judge 
from  my  speeches  that  I  will  be  inflexible  on  the  ter- 
ritorial question ;  that  I  probably  think  either  the 
Missouri  line  extended,  or  Douglas's  or  Eli  Thayer's 
popular  sovereignty  would  lose  us  every  thing  Ave 
gain  by  the  election ;  that  filibustering  for  all  the 
South  of  us,  and  making  slave  states  of  it  would  fol- 
low, in  spite  of  us  in  either  case;  also,  that  I  proba- 
bly think  all  opposition,  real  and  apparent,  to  the 
fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  constitution  ought  to  be 
withdrawn. 

I  believe  you  can  pretend  to  find  but  little,  if  any 
thing,  in  my  speeches,  about  secession.  But  my 
opinion  is  that  no  state  can  in  any  way  lawfully  get 
out  of  the  Union  without  the  consent  of  the  others; 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  president  and  other  gov- 
ernment functionaries  to  run  the  machine  as  it  is. 
Truly  yours,  A.  Lincoln. 

Interview  Published  in  New  York  Tribune,  January 

30, 1861. 

I  will  suffer  death  before  I  will  consent  or  advise 
my  friends  to  consent  to  any  concession  or  compro- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  17 

mise  which  looks  like  buying  the  privilege  of  taking 
possession  of  the  government  to  which  we  have  a 
constitutional  right;  because,  whatever  I  might  think 
of  the  merit  of  the  various  propositions  before  Con- 
gress, I  should  regard  any  concession  in  the  face  of 
menace  as  the  destruction  of  the  government  itself, 
and  a  consent  on  all  hands  that  our  system  shall  be 
brought  down  to  a  level  with  the  existing  disorgan- 
ized state  of  affairs  in  Mexico.  But  this  thing  will 
hereafter  be,  as  it  is  now,  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
and  if  they  desire  to  call  a  convention  to  remove  any 
grievances  complained  of,  or  to  give  new  guarantees 
for  the  permanence  of  vested  rights,  it  is  not  mine  to 
oppose. 

The  President  Elect  to  Thurlow  Weed. 

Springfield,  III.,  February  4,  1861. 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  both  your  letter  to  myself,  and 
that  to  Judge  Davis,  in  relation  to  a  certain  gentle- 
man of  your  state,  claiming  to  dispense  patronage  in 
inv  name,  and  also  to  be  authorized  to  use  my  name 
to  advance  the  chances  of  Mr.  Greeley  for  an  election 
to  the  United  States  Senate. 

It  is  very  strange  that  such  things  should  be  said 
by  any  one.  The  gentleman  you  mention  did  speak 
to  me  of  Mr.  Greeley  in  connection  with  the  sena- 
torial election,  and  I  replied  in  terms  of  kindness 
towards  Mr.  Greeley,  which  I  really  feel,  but  always 
with  an  expressed  protest  that  my  name  must  not  be 
used  in  the  senatorial  election  in  favor  of  or  against 
any  one.  Any  other  representation  of  me  is  a  mis- 
representation. 
2 


18  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

As  to  the  matter  of  dispensing  patronage,  it  will 
perhaps  surprise  you  to  learn  that  I  have  information 
that  you  claim  to  have  my  authority  to  arrange  that 
matter  in  Xew  York.  I  do  not  believe  you  have  so 
claimed,  but  still  so  some  men  say.  On  that  subject 
you  know  all  I  have  said  to  you  is  "justice  to  all," 
and  I  have  said  nothing  more  particular  to  any  one. 
I  say  this  to  reassure  you  that  I  have  not  changed  my 
position. 

In  the  hope,  however,  that  you  will  not  use  my 
name  in  the  matter,  I  am,  yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Speech  at  Springfield,  February  11, 
1861,  on  Leaving  for  Washington,  to  be  Inau- 
gurated as  President. 

Friends: — ISTo  one  who  has  never  been  placed  in  a 
like  position  can  understand  my  feeling  at  this  hour, 
nor  the  oppressive  sadness  I  feel  at  this  parting. 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  lived 
among  you,  and  during  all  that  time  I  have  received 
nothing  but  kindness  at  your  hands.  Here  I  have 
lived  from  my  youth,  until  now  I  am  an  old  man. 
Here  the  most  sacred  ties  of  earth  were  assumed. 
Here  all  my  children  were  born ;  and  here  one  of 
them  lies  buried.  To  you,  dear  friends,  I  owe  all  that 
I  have,  all  that  I  am.  All  the  strange,  checkered  past 
si rms  to  crowd  now  upon  my  mind.  To-day  I  leave 
you.  I  go  to  assume  a  task  more  difficult  than  that 
which  devolved  upon  Washington.  Unless  the  great 
God,  who  assisted  him,  shall  be  with  and  aid  me,  I 
must  fail;  but  if  the   same  omniscient  mind  and  al- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  19 

mighty  arm  that  directed  and  protected  him  shall 
guide  and  support  me,  I  shall  not  fail — I  shall  succeed. 
Let  us  all  pray  that  the  God  of  our  fathers  may  not 
forsake  us  now.  To  Him  I  commend  you  all.  Per- 
mit me  to  ask,  that,  with  equal  security  and  faith, 
you  will  invoke  His  wisdom  and  guidance  for  me. 
With  these  few  words  1  must  leave  you,  for  how  long 
I  know  not.  Friends,  one  and  all,  I  must  now  bid 
you  an  affectionate  farewell. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Speech  at  Indianapolis,  February  11, 

1861. 

Governor  Morton  and  Fellow -citizens  of  the  State  of 
Indiana : — Most  heartily  do  I  thank  you  for  this  mag- 
nificent reception,  and  while  I  can  not  take  to  myself 
any  share  of  the  compliment  thus  paid,  more  than 
that  which  pertains  to  a  mere  instrument,  an  acci- 
dental instrument,  perhaps  I  should  say,  of  a  great 
cause,  I  yet  must  look  upon  it  as  a  most  magnificent 
reception,  and  as  such,  most  heartily  do  thank  you 
for  it.  You  have  been  pleased  to  address  yourself  to 
me  chiefly  in  behalf  of  this  glorious  Union  in  which 
we  live,  in  all  of  which  you  have  my  hearty  sympathy, 
and,  as  far  as  may  be  within  my  power,  will  have,  one 
and  inseparably,  my  hearty  consideration.  While  I  do 
not  expect,  upon  this  occasion,  or  until  I  get  to 
Washington,  to  attempt  any  lengthy  speech,  I  will 
only  say  to  the  salvation  of  the  Union,  there 
needs  but  one  single  thing,  the  hearts  of  a  people 
like  yours. 

The  people,  when  they  rise  in  mass  in  behalf  of  the 
Union,  and  the  liberties  of  their  country,  truly  may 


20  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

it  be  said,  "The  gates  of  hell  can  not  prevail  against 
them."  In  all  trying  positions  in  which  I  shall  be 
placed,  and,  doubtless,  I  shall  be  placed  in  many  such, 
my  reliance  will  be  placed  upon  you  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States ;  and  I  wish  you  to  remember, 
now  and  forever,  that  jt  is  your  business,  and  not 
mine;  that  if  the  union  of  these  states,  and  the  lib- 
erties of  this  people  shall  be  lost,  it  is  but  little  to 
any  one  man  of  fifty-two  years  of  age,  but  a  great 
deal  to  the  thirty  millions  of  people  who  inhabit 
these  United  States,  and  to  their  posterity  in  all  com- 
ing time. 

It  is  your  business  to  rise  up  and  preserve  the 
Union  and  liberty  for  yourselves,  and  not  for  me. 

I  desire  they  should  be  constitutionally  performed. 
I,  as  already  intimated,  am  but  an  accidental  instru- 
ment, temporary,  and  to  serve  but  for  a  limited  time, 
and  I  appeal  to  you  again  to  constantly  bear  in  mind 
that  with  you,  and  not  with  politicians,  not  with  pres- 
idents, not  with  office-seekers,  but  with  yon,  is  the 
question,  Shall  the  Union,  and  shall  the  liberties  of 
this  country  be  preserved  to  the  latest  generation  ? 

Continued  at  Indtanapolis  in  the  Evening,  Before 
the  Legislature,  February  11,  1861. 

Fellow-citizens  of  the  State  of  Indiana : — I  am  here 
to  thank  you  much  for  this  magnificent  welcome,  and 
still  more  for  the  generous  support  given  by  your 
state  to  that  political  cause  which  I  think  is  the  true 
and  great  cause  of  the  whole  country  and  the  whole 
world. 

Solomon  says  there  is  "  a  time  to  keep  silence,"  and 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  -1\ 

when  men  wrangle  by  the  mouth  with  no  certainty 
that  they  mean  the  same  thing,  while  using  the  same 
word,  it  perhaps  were  as  well  if  they  would  keep 
silence. 

The  words  "coercion"  and  "invasion"  are  much 
used  in  these  days,  and  often  with  some  temper  and 
hot  blood.  Let  us  make  sure,  if  we  can,  that  we  do 
uot  misunderstand  the  meaning  of  those  who  use 
them.  Let  us  get  the  exact  definition  of  these  words. 
not  from  dictionaries,  but  from  the  men  themselves, 
who  certainly  depreciate  the  things  they  would  repre- 
sent by  the  use  of  the  words.  What,  then,  is  "coer- 
cion ?  "  What  is  "  invasion  ?  "  Would  the  marching 
of  an  army  into  South  Carolina,  without  the  consent 
of  her  people,  and  with  hostile  intent  toward  them, 
be  k"  invasion?  "  I  certainly  think  it  would;  and  it 
would  be  "coercion"  also  if  the  South  Carolinians 
were  forced  to  submit. 

But  if  the  United  States  should  merely  hold  and 
retake  its  own  forts  and  other  property,  and  collect 
the  duties  on  foreign  importations,  and  even  with- 
hold the  mails  from  places  where  they  were  habitu- 
ally violated,  would  any  or  all  these  things  be  "inva- 
sion "  or  "  coercion  ?  "  I)o  our  professed  lovers  of  the 
Union,  but  who  spitefully  resolve  that  they  will  resist 
coercion  and  invasion,  understand  that  such  things  as 
these  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  would  be 
coercion  or  invasion  of  a  state?  It  so,  their  idea  of 
means  to  preserve  the  object  of  their  affection  would 
seem  exceedingly  thin  and  airy.  If  sick,  the  little 
pills  of  the  homeopathists  would  be  much  too  large 
for  it  to  swallow.     In  their  view,  the   Union,  as  a 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

family  relation,  would  seem  to  be  no  regular  marriage, 
but  a  sort  of  "free  love"  arrangemeut,  to  be  main- 
tained only  on  "passional  attraction." 

By  the  way,  in  what  consists  the  special  sacreduess 
of  a  state?  I  speak  not  of  the  position  assigned  to  a 
state  in  the  Union,  by  the  constitution;  but  that,  by 
the  bond  we  all  recognize. 

That  position,  however,  a  state  can  not  carry  out 
of  the  Union  with  it.  1  speak  of  that  assumed 
primary  right  of  a  state  to  rule  all  which  is  less  than 
itself,  and  ruin  all  which  is  larger  than  itself. 

If  a  state  and  a  county  in  a  given  case,  should  be 
equal  in  extent  of  territory,  and  equal  in  number  of 
inhabitants,  in  what,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  is  the 
state  better  than  the  county?  "Would  an  exchange 
of  names  be  an  exchange  of  rights  upon  principle? 
On  what  rightful  principle  may  a  state,  being  not 
more  than  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  nation,  in  soil  and 
population,  break  up  the  nation,  and  then  coerce  a 
proportionally  larger  subdivision  of  itself,  in  the 
most  arbitrary  way  ?  What  mysterious  right  to  play 
tyrant  is  conferred  on  a  district  of  country,  with  its 
people,  by  merely  calling  it  a  state  ? 

Fellow-citizens,  I  am  not  asserting  anything;  I  am 
merely  asking  questions  for  you  to  consider.  And 
now  allow  me  to  bid  you  farewell. 

Speech  at  Cincinnati,  February  12,  1861. 
Mr.  Mayor,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Twenty-four 
hours  ago,  at  the  capital  of  Indiana,  I  said  to  myself, 
u  I  have  never  seen   so  many  people  assembled  to- 
gether in  winter  weather."     I  am  no  longer  able  to 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  23 

Say  that.  But  it  is  what  might  reasonably  have  been 
expected — that  this  great  city  of  Cincinnati  would 
thus  acquit  herself  on  such  an  occasion.  My  friends, 
I  am  entirely  overwhelmed  by  the  magnificence  of  the 
reception  which  has  been  given,  I  will  not  say  to  me, 
but  to  the  President-elect  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  Most  heartily  do  I  thank  you,  one  and  all, 
for  it.  I  am  reminded  by  the  address  of  your  worthy 
Mayor,  that  this  reception  is  given  not  by  one  politi- 
cal party;  and  even  if  I  had  not  been  so  reminded  by 
His  Honor,  I  could  not  have  failed  to  know  the  fact 
by  the  extent  of  the  multitude  I  see  before  me  now. 
I  could  not  look  upon  this  vast  assemblage  without 
being  made  aware  that  all  parties  were  united  in  this 
reception.  This  is  as  it  should  be.  It  is  as  it  should 
have  been  if  Senator  Douglas  had  been  elected;  it  is 
as  it  should  have  been  if  Mr.  Bell  had  been  elected  ; 
as  it  should  have  been  if  Mr.  Breckinridge  had  been 
elected;  as  it  should  ever  be  when  any  citizen  of  the 
United  States  is  constitutionally  elected  President  of 
the  United  States.  Allow  me  to  say  that  I  think 
what  has  occurred  here  to-day  could  not  have  oc- 
curred in  any  other  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe, 
without  the  influence  of  the  free  institutions  which 
we  have  unceasingly  enjoyed  for  three-quarters  of  a 
century. 

There  is  no  country  where  the  people  can  turn  out 
and  enjoy  this  day  precisely  as  they  please,  save  under 
the  benign  influence  of  the  free  institutions  of  our 
land. 

I  hope  that,  although  we  have  some  threatening 
national  difficulties  now,  while  these  free  institutions 


24  ABRAHAM  LIXCOLN's 

shall  continue  to  be  in  the  enjoyment  of  millions  of 
free  people  of  the  United  States,  we  will  see  repeated 
every  four  years  what  we  now  witness. 

In  a  few  short  years  I  and  every  other  individual 
man  who  is  now  living  will  pass  away.  I  hope  that 
our  national  difficulties  will  also  pass  away,  and  I 
hope  we  shall  see  in  the  streets  of  Cincinnati — good 
old  Cincinnati — for  centuries  to  come,  once  every  four 
years,  the  people  give  such  a  reception  as  this  to  the 
constitutionally  elected  President  of  the  whole  United 
States.  I  hope  you  will  all  join  in  that  reception, 
and  that  you  shall  also  welcome  your  brethren  across 
the  river  to  participate  in  it.  We  will  welcome  them 
in  every  state  in  the  Union,  no  matter  where  they  are 
from.  From  away  South,  we  shall  extend  to  them 
a  cordial  good  will,  when  our  present  differences 
shall  have  been  forgotten  and  blown  to  the  winds 
forever. 

I  have  spoken  but  once  before  this  in  Cincinnati. 
That  was  a  year  previous  to  the  late  presidential  elec- 
tion. On  that  occasion,  in  a  playful  manner,  but  with 
sincere  words,  I  addressed  much  of  what  I  said  to  the 
Kentuckians.  I  gave  as  my  opinion  that  we,  as  Re- 
publicans, would  ultimately  beat  them  as  Democrats, 
but  that  they  could  postpone  that  result  longer  by 
nominating  Senator  Douglas  for  the  presidency  than 
they  could  in  any  other  way.  They  did  not,  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word  nominate  Douglas,  and  the 
result  has  come  certainly  as  soon  as  I  expected.  I 
also  told  them  how  I  expected  they  would  be  treated 
after  they  should  have  been  beaten;  and  I  now  wish 
to  call  or  recall  their  attention  to  what  I  then  said 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  25 

upon  that  subject.  I  then  said  :  "  "When  we  do,  as  we 
say,  beat  you,  you  perhaps  will  want  to  know  what 
we  will  do  with  you.  We  mean  to  treat  you  as  near 
as  we  possibly  can  as  Washington,  Jefferson  and 
Madison  treated  you.  We  mean  to  leave  you  alone, 
and  in  no  way  to  interfere  with  your  institutions,  to 
abide  by  all  and  every  compromise  of  the  Constitu- 
tion; and,  in  a  word,  coming  back  to  the  original 
proposition  to  treat  you  as  far  as  degenerated  men,  if 
we  have  degenerated,  may,  according  to  the  examples 
of  those  noble  fathers,  Washington,  Jefferson  and 
Madison.  We  mean  to  remember  that  you  are  as 
good  as  we — that  there  is  no  difference  between  us — 
other  than  the  difference  of  circumstances.  We  mean 
to  recognize  and  bear  in  mind  always  that  you  have 
as  good  hearts  in  your  bosoms  as  other  people,  or  as 
good  as  we  claim  to  have,  and  treat  you  accord- 
ingly." 

Fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky,  friends,  brethren : 
may  I  call  you  such?  In  my  new  position  I  see  no 
occasion,  and  feel  no  inclination  t<.  retract  a  word  of 
this.  If  it  shall  not  be  made  good,  be  assured  that 
the  fault  shall  not  be  mine. 

Speech  at  Columbus,  February  13,1861. 
Mr.  President  and  Mr.  Speaker,  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
General  Assembly : — It  is  true,  as  has  been  said  by  the 
president  of  the  Senate,  that  very  great  responsibility 
rests  upon  me  in  the  position  to  which  the  votes  of 
the  American  people  have  called  me.  I  am  deeply 
sensible  of  that  weighty  responsibility.  I  can  not  but 
know  what  you  all  know,  that  without  a  name  per- 

3 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

haps  without  a  reason  why  I  should  have  a  name, 
there  has  fallen  upon  me  a  task  such  as  did  not  rest 
even  upon  the  Father  of  his  country,  and  so  feeling  I 
can  not  hut  turn  and  look  for  the  support  without 
which  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  perform  that 
great  task.  I  turn,  then,  and  look  to  the  great 
American  people,  and  to  that  God  who  has  never 
forsaken  them. 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  interest  felt  in  re- 
lation to  the  policy  of  the  new  administration.  In 
this  I  have  received  from  some  a  degree  of  credit  for 
having  kept  silence,  and  from  others  some  deprecia- 
tion. I  still  think  that  I  was  right.  In  the  varying 
and  repeatedly  shifting  scenes  of  the  present,  and 
without  a  precedent  which  could  enable  me  to  judge 
by  the  past,  it  has  seemed  fitting  that  before  speaking 
upon  the  difficulties  of  the  country,  I  should  have 
o-ained  a  view  of  the  whole  field  so  as  to  be  sure  after 
all — at  liberty  to  modify  and  change  the  course  of 
policy  as  future  events  may  make  a  change  necessary. 
I  have  not  maintained  silence  from  any  want  of  real 
anxiety.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  there  is  no  more 
than  anxiety,  for  there  is  nothing  going  wrong. 

It  is  a  consoling  circumstance  that  when  we  look 
out,  there  is  nothing  that  really  hurts  anybody.  We 
entertain  different  views  upon  political  questions,  but 
nobody  is  suffering  any  thing.  This  is  a  most  con- 
soling circumstance,  and  from  it  we  may  conclude 
that  all  we  want  is  time,  patience,  and  a  reliance  on 
God,  who  has  never  forsaken  this  people.  Fellow. 
citizens,  what  I  have  said  I  have  said  altogether  ex- 
temporaneously, and  will  now  come  to  a  close. 


pen  and  voice.  27 

Speech  at  Pittsburg,  before  the  Mayor  and  Common 
Council,  February  15,  1801. 

I  most  cordially  thank  his  Honor  Mayor  Wilson 
and  the  citizens  of  Pittsburg  generally,  for  their 
flattering  reception.  I  am  the  more  grateful  because 
1  know  that  it  is  not  given  to  me  alone,  but  to  the 
cause  I  represent,  which  clearly  proves  to  me  their 
good  will,  and  that  sincere  feeling  is  at  the  bottom  of 
it.  And  here  I  may  remark,  that  in  every  short 
address  I  have  made  to  the  people,  in  every  crowd 
through  which  I  have  passed,  of  late,  some  allusion 
has  been  made  to  the  distracted  condition  of  the 
country.  It  is  natural  to  expect  that  I  should  say 
something  on  this  subject;  but  to  fbuch  upon  it  at  all 
would  involve  an  elaborate  discussion  of  a  great 
many  questions  and  circumstances,  requiring  more 
time  than  I  can  at  present  command,  and  would, 
perhaps,  commit  me  upon  matters  that  have  not  yet 
fully  developed  themselves.  The  condition  of  the 
country  is  an  extraordinary  one,  and  tills  the  mind  of 
every  patriot  with  anxiety.  It  is  my  intention  to 
give  this  subject  all  the  consideration  I  possibly  can, 
before  specially  deciding  in  regard  to  it,  so  that  when 
I  do  speak  it  may  be  as  nearly  right  as  possible- 
\\  nen  I  do  speak,  I  hope  I  may  say  nothing  in 
opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  contrary 
to  the  integrity  of  the  Union,  or  which  will  prove 
inimical  to  the  liberties  of  the  people  or  to  the  peace 
of  the  whole  country.  And,  furthermore,  when  the 
time  arrives  for  me  to  speak  on  this  great  subject,  I 
hope    I  may   say    nothing   to   disappoint    the    people 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

generally  throughout  the  country,  especially  if  the 
expectation  has  been  based  upon  any  thing  which  I 
may  have  heretofore  said.  Notwithstanding  the 
troubles  across  the  river  [the  speaker  pointing  south- 
wardly across  the  Monongahela,  and  smiling],  there 
is  no  crisis  hut  an  artitical  one.  What  is  there  now 
to  warrant  the  condition  of  affairs  presented  by  our 
friends  over  the  river?  Take  even  their  own  view 
of  the  questions  involved,  and  there  is  nothing  to 
justify  the  course  they  are  pursuing.  I  repeat,  then, 
there  is  no  crisis,  excepting  such  a  one  as  may  be 
gotten  up  at  any  time  by  turbulent  men,  aided  by  de- 
signing politicians.  My  advice  to  them,  under  such 
circumstances,  is  to  keep  cool.  If  the  great  American 
people  only  keep  their  temper  on  both  sides  of  the 
line,  the  troubles  will  come  to  an  end,  and  the  ques- 
tion which  now  distracts  the  country  will  be  settled, 
just  as  surely  as  all  other  difficulties  of  a  like  char- 
acter which  have  originated  in  this  government  have 
been  adjusted.  Let  the  people  on  both  sides  keep 
their  self-possession,  and  just  as  other  clouds  have 
cleared  away  in  due  time,  so  will  this  great  nation 
continue  to  prosper  as  heretofore.  But,  fellow- 
citizens,  I  have  spoken  longer  on  this  subject  than  I 
intended  at  the  outset. 

It  is  often  said  that  the  tariff  is  the  specialty  of 
Pennsylvania.  Assuming  that  direct  taxation  is  not 
to  be  adopted,  the  tariff  question  must  be  as  durable 
as  the  government  itself.  It  is  a  question  of  national 
housekeeping.  It  is  to  the  government  what  replen- 
ishing the  meal-tub  is  to  the  family. 

Every  varying  circumstance  will  require  frequent 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  29 

modifications  as  to  the  amount  needed,  and  the 
sources  of  supply.  So  far  there  is  little  difference  of 
opinion  among  the  people.  It  is  only  whether,  and 
how  far,  the  duties  on  imports  shall  be  adjusted  to 
favor  home  productions.  In  the  home  market  that 
controversy  begins.  One  party  insists  that  too  much 
protection  oppresses  one  class  for  the  advantage  of 
another,  while  the  other  party  argues  that  with  all  its 
incidents,  in  the  long  run,  all  classes  are  benefited. 
In  the  Chicago  platform  there  is  a  plank  upon  this 
subject,  which  should  be  a  general  law  to  the  incom- 
ing administration.  We  should  do  neither  more  nor 
less  than  we  gave  people  reason  to  believe  we  would 
when  they  gave  us  their  votes.     .     .     . 

In  regard  to  the  plank  from  Chicago  platform,  Mr. 
Lincoln  resumed  :  As  with  all  general  propositions, 
doubtless  there  will  be  shades  of  difference  in  constru- 
ing this.  I  have  by  no  means  a  thoroughly  matured 
judgment  upon  this  subject,  especially  as  to  details! 
some  general  ideas  are  about  all.  I  have  long  thought 
to  produce  any  necessary  article  at  home  which  can 
be  made  of  as  good  quality  and  with  as  little  labor  at 
home  as  abroad,  would  be  better  policy,  at  least  by 
the  difference  of  the  carrying  from  abroad.  In  such 
a  case  the  carrying  is  demonstrably  a  dead  loss  of 
labor.  For  instance,  labor  being  the  true  standard  of 
value,  is  it  not  plain  that  if  equal  labor  gets  a  bar  of 
railroad  iron  out  of  a  mine  in  England,  and  another 
out  of  a  mine  in  Pennsylvania,  each  can  be  laid  down 
in  a  track  at  home  cheaper  than  they  could  exchange 
countries,  at  least  by  the  cost  of  carriage.  If  there 
be  a  present  cause  why  one  can  be  both  made  and 


30  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

carried  cheaper  in  money  price  than  the  other  can  be 
made  without  carrying,  that  cause  is  an  unnatural 
and  injurious  one,  and  ought  naturally,  if  not  rapidly, 
to  be  removed.  The  condition  of  the  treasury  at  this 
time  would  seem  to  render  an  early  revision  of  the 
tariff  indispensable.  The  Morrill  Tariff  bill,  now 
pending  before  Congress,  may  or  may  not  become  a 
law.  I  am  not  posted  as  to  its  particular  provisions, 
but  if  they  are  generally  satisfactory  and  the  bill  shall 
now  pass,  there  will  be  an  end  of  the  matter  for  the 
present.  If,  however,  it  shall  not  pass,  I  suppose  the 
whole  subject  will  be  one  of  the  most  pressing 
and  important  for  the  next  Congress.  By  the  Con- 
stitution, the  executive  may  recommend  measures 
which  he  may  think  proper,  and  he  may  veto  those 
he  thinks  improper,  and  it  is  supposed  that  he  may 
add  to  these,  certain  indirect  influences  to  affect  the 
action  of  Congress.  My  political  education  strongly 
inclines  me  against  a  very  free  use  of  any  of  these 
means  by  the  executive  to  control  the  legislation  of 
the  country.  As  a  rule,  I  think  it  better  that  Con- 
gress should  originate  as  well  as  perfect  its  measures 
without  external  bias.  I,  therefore,  would  rather 
recommend  to  every  gentleman  who  knows  he  is  to 
be  a  member  of  the  next  Congress,  to  take  an  enlarged 
view  and  inform  himself  thoroughly,  so  as  to  contrib- 
ute  his  part  to  such  an  adjustment  of  the  tariff  as 
shall  prove  sufficient  revenue,  and  in  its  other  hear- 
ings, so  far  as  possible,  be  just  and  equal  to  all  sections 
of  the  country  and  all  elasses  of  the  people. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  31 

At    Albany,  N.  Y.,   February    18,  1861,  from   the 
Steps  of  the  Capitol. 

Mr.  Governor: — I  was  pleased  to  receive  an  invita- 
tion to  visit  the  capital  of  the  great  Empire  State  of 
the  nation,  on  my  way  to  the  Federal  Capital,  and  I 
now  thank  you,  Mr.  Governor,  and  the  people  of  this 
Capital,  and  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
for  this  most  hearty  and  magnificent  welcome. 

IF  I  am  not  at  fault,  the  great  Empire  State  at  this 
time  contains  a  greater  population  than  did  the  United 
States  of  America,  at  the  time  she  achieved  her 
national  independence.  I  am  proud  to  be  invited  to 
pass  through  your  Capital  and  meet  them,  as  I  now 
have  the  honor  to  do. 

I  am  notified  by  your  Governor  that  the  reception 
is  given  without  distinction  of  party.  I  accept  it  the 
more  gladly  because  it  is  so.  Almost  all  men  in  the 
country,  and  in  any  country  where  freedom  of  thought 
is  tolerated,  attach  themselves  to  political  parties.  It 
is  but  ordinary  charity  to  attribute  this  to  the  fact 
that  in  so  attaching  himself  to  the  party  which  his 
judgment  prefers,  the  citizen  believes  he  thereby 
promotes  the  best  interests  of  the  whole  country  ;  and 
when  an  election  is  passed,  it  is  altogether  befitting'  a 
free  people  that,  until  the  next  election,  they  should 
be  as  one  people.  The  reception  you  have  extended 
to  me  to-day  is  not  given  to  me  personally. 

It  should  not  be  so,  but  as  the  representative  for 
the  time  being  of  the  majority  of  the  nation. 

If  the  election  had  resulted  in  the  selection  of  either 
of  the  other  candidates,  the   same    cordiality  should 


32  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

have  been  extended  to  him  as  is  extended  to  me  this 
day,  in  testimony  of  the  devotion  of  the  whole  people 
to  the  Constitution  and  the  whole  Union,  and  of  their 
desire  to  perpetuate  oar  institutions,  and  to  hand  them 
down  in  their  perfection  to  succeeding  generations. 
I  have  neither  the  voice  nor  the  strength  to  address 
you  at  any  greater  length.  I  beg  you  will  accept  my 
most  grateful  thanks  for  the  devotion,  not  to  me,  but 
to  this  great  and  glorious  free  country. 

Afterward  in  the  Assembly  Hall  as  follows,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1861. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
State  of  New  York: — It  is  with  feelings  of  great  diffi- 
dence, and,  I  may  say,  with  feelings  of  awe,  perhaps 
greater  than  I  have  recently  experienced,  that  I  meet 
you  here  in  this  place. 

The  history  of  this  great  state,  the  renown  of  those 
great  men  who  have  stood  here,  and  spoke  here, 
and  been  heard  here,  all  crowd  around  my  fancy, 
and  incline  me  to  shrink  from  any  attempt  to  address 
you.  Yet  I  have  some  confidence  given  me  by  the 
generous  manner  in  which  you  have  invited  me,  and 
by  the  still  more  generous  manner  in  which  you  have 
received  me,  to  speak  further. 

You  have  invited  and  received  me  without  distinc- 
tion of  party.  I  can  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that 
this  has  been  done  in  any  considerable  degree  with 
reference  to  my  personal  services,  but  that  it  is  done 
in  so  far  as  I  am  regarded  at  this  time,  as  the  repre- 
sentative   of  the    majesty  of    the    great    nation.      I 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  33 

doubt  not  this  is  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth,  of 
the  case,  and  this  is  as  it  should  be. 

It  is  much  more  gratifying  to  me  that  this  recep- 
tion has  been  given  to  nie  as  the  representative  of  a 
free  people,  than  it  could  possibly  be  if  tendered  as  an 
evidence  of  devotion  to  me,  or  to  any  one  man  per- 
sonally. 

And  now  I  think  it  were  more  fitting  that  I  should 
close  these  hasty  remarks. 

It  is  true  that,  while  I  hold  myself,  without  mock 
modesty,  the  humblest  of  all  individuals  that  have 
ever  been  elevated  to  the  Presidency,  I  have  a  more 
difficult  task  to  perform  than  any  one  of  them. 

You  have  generously  tendered  me  the  united  sup- 
port of  the  great  Empire  State.  For  this,  in  behalf 
of  the  nation — in  behalf  of  the  present  and  future  of 
the  nation — in  behalf  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  for 
all  time  to  come,  most  gratefully  do  I  thank  you.  I 
do  not  propose  to  enter  into  an  explanation  of  any 
particular  line  of  policy,  as  to  our  present  difficulties, 
to  be  adopted  by  the  incoming  administration. 

I  deem  it  just  to  you,  to  myself,  and  to  all,  that  I 
should  see  every  thing,  that  I  should  hear  every- 
thing, that  I  should  have  every  light  that  can  be 
brought  within  my  reach,  in  order  that,  when  I  do 
so  speak,  I  shall  have  enjoyed  every  opportunity  to 
take  correct  and  true  grounds  ;  and  for  this  reason  I 
don't  propose  to  speak,  at  this  time,  of  the  policy  of 
the  government.  But  when  the  time  comes  I  shall 
speak,  as  well  as  I  am  aide,  for  the  good  of  the 
present  and  future  of  the  country — for  the  good  both 
of  the  North  and  the  South  of  this  country— for  the 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

good  of  the  one  and  the  other,  and  of  all  sections  of 
the  country.  [Rounds  of  applause.]  In  the  mean- 
time, if  we  have  patience,  if  we  restrain  ourselves,  if 
we  allow  ourselves  not  to  run  oft"  in  a  passion,  I  still 
have  confidence  that  the  Almighty,  the  maker  of  the 
universe,  will,  through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
great  and  intelligent  people,  bring  us  through  this  as 
He  has  through  all  the  other  difficulties  of  our  country. 
Relying  on  this,  I  again  thank  you  for  this  generous 
reception. 

The  President  elect  en  route  from  Albany  to  Xew 
York.      Speech  at  Troy,  February  18,  1861. 

Mr.  Mayor  ami  Ladies  ami  Gentlemen  of  the  city  of 
Troy:  —  I  can  not  fail  to  remark  to  you  here  that, 
since  I  entered  upon  this  journey  from  my  home  to 
the  Federal  Capital,  I  have  never  seen  a  meeting  so 
compact  and  yet  so  good-natured  as  the  one  before 
which  I  now  stand.  I  thank  you  for  this  reception. 
I  thank  you,  because  it  is  a  demonstration  made 
without  distinction  of  party.  I  appear  before  you 
that  I  ma}7  see  you  and  you  see  me;  but  with  the 
large  attendance  of  the  fair  who  face  this  vast  assem- 
blage, I  must  say  I  have  the  best  of  the  bargain. 
Having  said  this  much  in  response  to  your  cordial 
greeting,  I  will  now  bid  you  farewell. 

Speech  at  Hudson.  X.  Y.,  February  19, 1861. 

Fellow-citizens: — I    see   that   you    are    providing  a 

platform  for  me.     I  shall   have  to  decline  standing 

upon  it,  because  the.  President  of  the  company  [Mr. 

Sloane]  tells  me  that  I  shall  not  have  time  to  wait 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  3.r> 

until  it  is  brought  to  mc  As  I  said  yesterday  under 
similar  circumstances  t<>  another  gathering,  you  must 
not  draw  any  inference  that  I  have  any  intention  of 
deserting  any  platform  of  which  1  have  any  legiti 
mate  connection  because  I  do  not  stand  on  yours. 
Allow  me  to  thank  you  for  this  splendid  reception, 
and  I  now  bid  you  farewell. 

Speech  at  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  February  19,  1861. 
It  is  altogether  impossible  that  I  make  myself 
heard  by  any  considerable  proportion  of  this  vast  as- 
semblage.  I  am  grateful  for  this  cordial  welcome,  and 
I  am  gratified  that  this  immense  multitude  has  come 
together,  not  to  meet  the  individual  man,  hut  the 
man  who,  for  the  time  being,  will  humbly  but  earn- 
estly represent  the  majesty  of  the  nation.  These 
receptions  have  been  given  me  at  other  places,  and  as 
here,  by  men  of  different  parties,  and  not  by  one 
party  alone.  It  shows  an  earnest  effort  on  the  part 
of  all  to  save,  not  the  country,  for  the  country  can 
save  itself,  but  to  save  the  institutions  of  the  country 
— those  institutions  under  which,  for  at  least  three- 
quarters  of  a  century,  we  have  become  the  greatest, 
the  most  intelligent,  and  the  happiest  people  in  the 
world.  These  manifestations  show  that  we  all  make 
common  cause  for  these  objects;  that  if  some  of  them 
are  successful  in  an  election  and  others  are  beaten, 
those  who  are  beaten  arc  not  in  favor  of  sinking  the 
ship  in  consequence  of  defeat,  but  are  earnest  in  their 
purpose  to  sail  it  safely  through  the  voyage  in  hand, 
and,  in  so  far  as  they  may  think  there  has  been  any 
mistake  in  the  election,  satisfying  themselves  to  take 


36  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN "s 

their  chance  at  setting  the  matter  right  the  next 
time.  That  course  is  entirely  right.  I  am  not  sure — 
I  do  not  pretend  to  be  sure — that  in  the  selection  of 
the  individual  who  has  been  elected  this  term,  the 
wisest  choice  has  been  made.  I  fear  it  lias  not. 
In  the  purposes  and  in  the  principles  that  have 
been  sustained,  I  have  been  the  instrument  selected 
to  carry  forward  the  affairs  of  this  government.  I 
can  rely  upon  you,  and  upon  the  people  of  the  coun- 
try; and  with  their  sustaining  hand  I  think  that 
even  I  shall  not  fail  in  carrying  the  ship  of  state 
through  the  storm.  I  have  only  time,  in  conclu- 
sion, to  bid  you  an  affectionate  farewell. 

Speech  at  Fishkill   Landing,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  10,  1861. 

I  appear  before  you  not  to  make  a  speech.  I  have 
no  sufficient  time,  if  I  had  the  strength,  to  repeat 
speeches  at  every  station  where  the  people  kindly 
gather  to  welcome  me  as  we  go  along.  If  I  had  the 
strength  and  should  take  the  time,  I  should  not  get 
to  Washington  until  after  inauguration,  which  you 
must  lie  aware  would  not  fit  exactly.  That  such  an 
untoward  event  might  not  transpire,  I  know  you  will 
readily  forego  any  further  remarks. 

Speech  at  Peekskill,  jST.  Y.,  February  19,  1861. 

I  have  but  a  moment  to  stand  before  you  and  thank 
you  for  this  cordial  reception  tendered  by  your  au- 
thorities. In  regard  to  the  difficulties  that  lie  before 
me,  and  to  which  your  president  has  alluded,  let  me 
say  that  if  I  shall  only  be  as  generously  and  unani- 
mously sustained  as  this  meeting  would  seem  to  indi- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  37 

cate  I  shall  be,  in  my  management  of  public  affairs, 
I  shall  probably  not  fail ;  but  without  that  sustaining 
arm  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  difficulties  that  lie  before 
me  will  not  only  be  too  great  for  my  humble  self,  but 
too  great  for  any  individual  man.  I  thank  you.  then, 
as  I  have  thanked  the  assembled  thousands  upon  va- 
rious occasions  as  I  have  passed  along  my  route,  for 
such  demonstrations,  which,  if  they  mean  any  thing, 
mean  that  I  shall  be  supported,  not  only  by  the  party 
who  gave  me  the  election,  but  by  the  free,  intelligent 
and  earnest  support  of  all  the  parties  in  the  country. 

Speech  at  Xew  York  City,  February  20,  1861. 

I  am  rather  an  old  man  to  avail  myself  of  such 
excuses  as  I  am  now  about  to  do;  yet  the  truth  is  so 
distinct  and  |>ivs<rs  so  distinctly  upon  me,  that  I  can 
not  well  avoid  it — thai  is,  that  I  did  not  understand, 
when  I  was  brought  into  this  room,  that  I  was  to 
make  a  speech.  It  was  not  intimated  to  me  that  I 
was  brought  into  a  room  where  Daniel  Webster 
and  Henry  Clay  had  made  speeches,  and  where  I,  in 
my  position,  am  expected  to  do  something  like  those 
men,  or  at  least  say  something  worthy  of  myself. 
I,  therefore,  beg  you  to  make  allowance  for  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  I  have  been  by  surprise 
brought  before  you.  I  have  been  very  much  in  the 
habit  of  thinking  and  sometimes  speaking  on  the 
questions  that  have  agitated  the  people.  If  I  were 
disposed  to  do  so,  and  we  were  to  take  up  sonic  of  the 
issues,  and  I  was  called  upon  to  make  an  argument,  I 
could  do  it  without  much  deliberation.  But  that  is 
not  what  you  desire  to  have  done  here  tonight.     I 


38  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Lave  been  occupying  the  position  since  election,  of 
silence — of  avoiding  public  speaking.  I  have  been 
doing  so  because  I  thought,  upon  due  consideration, 
that  was  the  proper  course  for  me  to  take.  I  am 
brought  before  you  now  to  make  a  speech,  while  you 
all  approve,  more  than  any  thing  else,  that  I  have 
been  keeping  silence. 

It  seems  to  me  the  response  you  give  to  that  remark 
ought  to  justify  me  in  closing  right  here. 

I  have  not  kept  silence  since  the  presidential  elec- 
tion from  any  party  craftiness  or  from  any  indiffer- 
ence to  anxieties  that  pervade  the  minds  of  men  in 
this  country.  I  have  kept  silence  for  the  reason  that 
it  was  peculiarly  proper  for  me  to  wait  until  the  time 
should  come  when,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country,  I  would  speak  officially.  I  hear  some  one 
say,  "  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country."  I 
allude  to  the  custom,  on  the  president's  taking  the 
oath  of  office,  of  his  declairing  what  course  he  thinks 
should  be  pursued.  That  is  what  I  mean.  The 
political  drama  acting  before  the  country  at  this  time 
is  rapidly  shifting  its  scenes.  It  was  eminently  fitting 
that  I  should  wait  till  the  last  minute;  so  that  I  could 
chose  a  position  from  which  I  should  not  be  obliged 
to  deviate. 

I  have  said  several  times  on  this  journey,  and  now 
repeat  to  you,  I  shall  then  take  the  ground  that  I 
think  is  right — the  ground  that  I  shall  then  think 
right  for  the  North,  the  South,  the  East,  the  West, 
and  the  whole  country.  And  in  doing  so,  I  hope  to 
feel  no  necessity  pressing  upon  me  to  say  any  thing  in 
conflict  with   the  Constitution,  in  conflict  with  the 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  39 

continued  union  of  these  United  States,  iu  conflict 
with  the  liberty  of  the  people,  nor  any  thing  in  con- 
flict with  any  thing  whatever  I  have  given  you  reason 
to  expect  from  me.  Now,  my  friends,  have  I  not  said 
enough?  Now,  my  friends,  there  is  a  difference  of 
opinion  between  you  and  me,  and  I  insist  on  deciding 
the  question. 

Speech  at  Trenton,  N.  J.,  February  21,  1861,  before 

the  Senate. 

Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey: — I  am  very  grateful  to  you  for 
the  honorable  reception  of  which  1  have  been  the  ob- 
ject. I  can  not  but  remember  the  place  that  New 
Jersey  holds  in  our  early  history.  In  the  early  revo- 
lutionary struggle,  few  of  the  states  among  the  old 
thirteen  had  more  of  the  battle  held  oi'  the  country 
within  their  limits  than  old  New  Jersey.  May  I  be 
pardoned  if,  upon  this  occasion,  I  mention  that  away 
back  in  my  childhood,  the  earliest  days  of  my  being 
able  to  read,  I  got  hold  of  a  small  book,  such  a  one 
as  few  of  the  younger  members  have  ever  seen, 
"Weems's  Life  of  Washington."  I  remember  all  the 
accounts  then  given  of  the  battle  fields  and  struggles 
for  the  liberties  of  the  country,  and  none  tixed  them- 
selves upon  my  imagination  so  deeply  as  the  struggle 
here  at  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  ■ 

The  crossing  of  the  river;  the  contest  with  the 
Hessians;  the  great  hardships  endured  at  that  time, 
all  tixed  themselves  in  my  memory,  more  than  any 
single  revolutionary  event;  and  you  all  know,  for  you 
have  all  been  boys,  how  these  early  impressions  last 


40  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

longer  than  any  others.  I  recollect  thinking  then, 
boy  even  though  I  was,  that  there  must  have  been 
something  more  than  common  that  these  men  strug- 
gled for.  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  that  that  thing 
which  they  struggled  for;  that  something  even  more 
than  national  independence;  that  something  that 
held  out  a  great  promise  to  all  the  people  of  the 
world  in  all  time  to  come — I  am  exceedino-lv  anxious 
that  the  Union,  the  Constitution,  and  the  liberties  of 
the  people  shall  be  perpetuated  in  accordance  with 
the  original  idea  for  which  that  struggle  was  made, 
and  I  shall  be  most  happy  indeed  if  I  shall  be  an 
humble  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  and 
of  these,  his  most  chosen  people,  as  the  chosen  instru- 
ment— also  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty — for  per- 
petuating the  object  of  that  great  struggle.  You 
give  me  this  reception,  as  I  understand,  without  dis- 
tinction of  party.  I  learn  that  this  body  is  composed 
of  a  majority  of  gentlemen  who,  in  the  exercise  of 
their  best  judgment  in  the  choice  of  a  chief  magis- 
trate, did  not  think  I  was  the  man.  I  understand, 
nevertheless,  that  they  came  forward  here  to  greet  me 
as  the  constitutional  President  of  the  United  States 
— as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  to  meet  the  man 
who,  for  the  time  being,  is  the  representative  man  of 
the  nation — united  by  a  purpose  to  perpetuate  the 
Union  and  liberties  of  the  people. 

As  such,  I  accept  the  reception  more  gratefully 
than  I  could  do  did  I  believe  it  was  tendered  to 
me  as  an  individual. 


pen  and  voice.  41 

Speech  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  February  22,  1861. 

I  am  rilled  with  deep  emotion  at  rinding  myself 
standing  here,  in  this  place,  where  were  collected  the 
wisdom,  the  patriotism,  the  devotion  to  principle, 
from  which  sprang  the  institution  under  which  we 
live.  You  have  kindly  suggested  to  me  that  in  my 
hands  is  the  task  of  restoring  peace  to  the  present 
distracted  condition  of  the  country.  I  can  say  in  re- 
turn, sir,  that  all  the  political  sentiments  I  entertain 
have  been  drawn,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  draw 
them,  from  the  sentiments  which  originated  and  were 
given  to  the  world  from  this  hall.  I  have  never  had 
a  feeling,  politically,  that  did  not  spring  from  the 
sentiments  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence. I  have  pondered  over  the  toils  that  were  en- 
dured by  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  army  who 
achieved  that  independence.  I  have  often  inquired 
of  myself  what  great  principle  or  idea  it  was  that 
kept  this  confederacy  so  long  together.  It  was  not, 
the  mere  matter  of  the  separation  of  the  colonies  from 
the  mother-land,  hut  that  sentiment  in  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  which  gave  liberty  not  alone  to  the 
people  of  this  country,  but,  I  hope,  to  the  world  for 
all  future  time.  It  was  that  which  gave  promise  that 
in  due  time  the  weight  would  be  lifted  from  the 
shoulders  of  all  men.  This  is  a  sentiment  embodied 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  Now,  my 
friends,  can  the  country  be  saved  upon  this  basis?  If 
it  can,  I  will  consider  myself  one  of  the  happiest  men 
in  the  world  if  I  can  help  to  save  it.  If  it  can  not  be 
saved  upon  that  principle,  it  will  be  truly  awful. 
4 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

But  if  this  country  can  not  be  saved  without  giving 
up  that  principle,  I  was  about  to  say  I  would  rather 
be  assassinated  on  this  spot  than  surrender  it.  Now, 
in  my  view  of  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  there  need 
be  no  bloodshed  or  war.  There  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
I  am  not  in  favor  of  such  a  course;  and  I  may  say,  in 
advance,  that  there  will  be  no  bloodshed  unless  it  will 
be  forced  upon  the  government,  and  then  it  will  be 
compelled  to  act  in  self-defense. 

Speech  before  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  at 
IIarrisburg,  Pa.,  February  22, 1861. 

I  appear  before  you  only  for  a  very  few,  brief  re- 
marks, in  response  to  what  has  been  said  to  me.  I 
thank  you  most  sincerely  for  this  reception  and  the 
generous  words  in  which  support  lias  been  promised 
me  upon  this  occasion.  I  thank  your  great  common- 
wealth for  the  overwhelming  support  it  recently 
gave,  not  me  personally,  but  the  cause  which  I  think 
a  great  one,  in  the  late  election.  Allusion  has  been 
made  to  the  fact — the  interesting  fact,  perhaps,  we 
should  say  —  that  I  for  the  first  time  appear  at  the 
capital  of  the  great  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania 
upon  the  birthday  of  the  Father  of  this  country,  in 
connection  with  that  beloved  anniversary  connected 
with  the  history  of  this  country. 

I  have  already  gone  through  one  exceedingly  inter- 
<-ting  scene  this  morning  in  the  ceremonies  at  Phila- 
delphia. 

Under  the  high  conduct  of  gentlemen,  thus  I  was 
for  the  first  time  allowed  the  privilege  of  standing  in 
old   Independence    Hall    [enthusiastic    cheering]    to 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  43 

have  a  few  words  addressed  to  me  there,  and  opening 
up  to  ni£  an  opportunity  of  expressing,  with  much  re- 
gret, that  I  had  not  more  time  to  express  something 
of  my  own  feelings,  excited  by  the  occasion,  some- 
what to  harmonize  and  give  shape  to  the  feelings  that 
had  been  really  the  feelings  of  my  whole  life.  Besides 
(his,  my  friends  there  had  provided  a  magnificent  flag 
of  the  country.  They  had  arranged  it  so  that  I  was 
given  the  honor  of  raising  it  to  the  head  of  its  staff. 
And  when  it  went  up  I  was  pleased  that  it  went  to  its 
place  by  the  strength  of  my  own  feeble  arm,  when 
according  to  the  arrangement,  the  cord  was  pulled, 
and  it  floated  gloriously  to  the  wind,  without  an  acci- 
dent, in  the  light,  glowing  sunshine  of  the  morning, 
I  could  not  help  hoping  that  there  was,  in  the  entire 
success  of  that  beautiful  ceremony,  at  least  something 
of  an  omen  of  what  is  to  come.  [Loud  applause.] 
How  could  I  help  feeling  then  as  I  often  have  felt  ? 
In  the  whole  of  that  proceeding  I  was  a  very  humble 
instrument.  I  had  not  provided  the  flag;  I  had  not 
made  the  arrangement  for  elevating  it  to  its  place  ;  I 
had  applied  but  a  very  small  portion  of  my  feeble 
strength  in  raising  it.  In  the  whole  transaction  1 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  people  who  had  arranged  it, 
and  if  I  can  have  the  same  generous  co-operation  of 
the  people  of  the  nation,  I  think  the  flag  of  our 
country  may  still  be  kept  flaunting  gloriously.  [Loud 
enthusiastic  and  continued  cheering.]  I  recr.r  for  a 
moment  but  to  repeat  some  words  uttered  at  the 
hotel,  in  regard  to  what  has  been  said  about  the  mili- 
tary support  which  the  general  government  may  ex- 


44  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  / 

pect  from  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  in  a 
proper  emergency. 

To  guard  against  any  possible  mistake  do  I  recur 
to  this.  It  is  not  with  any  pleasure  that  I  contem- 
plate the  possibility  that  a  necessity  may  arise  in  this 
country  for  the  use  of  the  military  arm.  [Applause.] 
"While  I  am  exceedingly  gratified  to  see  the  manifes- 
tations  upon  your  streets  of  your  military  force  here, 
and  exceedingly  gratified  at  your  promises  here  to  use 
that  force  upon  a  proper  emergency — while  I  make 
these  acknowledgments,  I  desire  to  repeat,  in  order  to 
preclude  any  possible  misconstruction,  that  I  do  most 
sincerely  hope  that  we  shall  have  no  use  for  them. 
[Applause.]  That  it  will  never  become  their  duty  to 
shed  blood,  and  most  especially  never  to  shed  fraternal 
blood,  I  promise  that,  so  far  as  I  may  have  wisdom  to 
direct,  if  so  painful  a  result  shall  any  wise  be  brought 
about,  it  shall  be  through  no  fault  of  mine.    [Cheers.] 

Allusion  has  also  been  made  by  one  of  your  honored 
speakers  to  some  remarks  made  by  myself  at  Pitts- 
burg, in  regard  to  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  especial 
interest  of  this  great  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

I  now  wish  only  to  say,  in  regard  to  that  matter. 
that  the  few  remarks  which  I  uttered  on  that  occa- 
sion were  rather  carefully  worded.  I  took  pains  that 
they  should  be  so.  I  have  seen  no  occasion  since  to 
add  to  them,  or  subtract  from  them.  I  leave  them 
precisely  as  they  stand  ['applause]  adding  only  now 
that  I  am  pleased  to  have  an  expression  from  you, 
gentlemen  of  Pennsylvania,  significant  that  they  are 
satisfactory  to  you.  And  now,  gentlemen  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  45 

vania,  allow  me  to  return  you  again  my  most  sincere 
thanks. 

Lincoln's  Own  Statement  of  How  He  Entered  "Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  February  23,  1861. 

I  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  the  21st.  I  agreed  to 
stop  over  night,  and  on  the  following  morning  to 
hoist  the  flag  over  Independence  Hall.  In  the  even- 
ing there  was  a  great  crowd  where  I  received  un- 
friends, at  the  Continental  Hotel.  Mr.  Judd,  a  warm 
personal  friend  from  Chicago,  sent  for  me  to  conic  to 
his  room.  I  went,  and  found  there  Mr.  Pinkerton,  a 
skillful  police  detective,  also  from  Chicago,  who  had 
been  employed  for  some  days  in  Baltimore,  watching 
and  searching  for  suspicious  persons  there.  Pinker- 
ton  informed  me  that  a  plan  had  been  laid  for  my  as- 
sassination, the  exact  time  when  I  expected  to  go 
through  Baltimore  being  publicly  known.  lie  was 
well  informed  as  to  the  plan,  but  did  not  know  that 
the  conspirators  would  have  pluck  enough  to  execute 
it.  He  urged  me  to  go  right  through  with  him  to 
Washington  that  night.  I  didn't  like  that.  I  had 
made  engagements  to  visit  Harrisburg,  and  go  from 
thereto  Baltimore,  and  I  resolved  to  do  so.  1  could 
not  believe  that  there  was  a  plot  to  murder  me.  I  made 
arrangements, however,  with  Mr.  Judd  for  my  return 
to  Philadelphia  the  next  night,  if  I  should  he  con- 
vinced that  there  was  danger  in  o-oinc;  through  Balti- 
more.  I  told  him  if  I  should  meet  at  Harrisburg,  as 
1  had  at  other  places,  a  delegation  to  go  with  me  to 
the  next  place  (then  Baltimore),  I  should  feel  safe  and 
go  on.      When    I  was   making   my  way   hack  to   my 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

room,  through  crowds  of  people,  I  met  Frederick 
Seward.  We  went  together  to  my  room,  when  lie 
told  me  that  he  had  been  sent,  at  the  instance  of  his 
father  and  General  Scott,  to  inform  me  that  their  de- 
tectives in  Baltimore  had  discovered  a  plot  to  assas- 
sinate me.  They  knew  nothing  of  Pinkerton's  move- 
ments. I  now  believed  such  a  plot  to  be  in  existence. 
The  next  morning  I  raised  the  flag  over  Independence 
Hall,  and  then  went  on  to  Harrisburg  with  Mr.  Sum- 
ner, Major  (now  General)  Hunter,  Mr.  Judd,  Mr.  La- 
raon,  and  others.  There  I  met  the  Legislature  and 
people,  dined,  and  waited  until  the  time  appointed  for 
me  to  leave.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Judd  had  so  se- 
cured the  telegraph  that  no  communication  could 
pass  to  Baltimore  and  give  the  conspirators  knowl- 
edge of  a  change  in  my  plans.  In  ]S'ew  York  some 
friend  had  given  me  a  new  heaver  hat  in  a  box,  and 
in  it  had  placed  a  soft  wool  hat.  I  had  never  worn 
one  of  the  latter  in  my  life.  I  had  this  box  in  my 
room.  Having  informed  a  very  few  friends  of  the 
secret  of  my  new  movements,  and  the  cause,  I  put  on 
an  old  overcoat  I  had  with  me,  and  putting  the  soft 
hat  in  my  pocket,  I  walked  out  of  the  house  at  a  back 
door,  bareheaded,  and  without  exciting  any  special 
curiosity.  Then  I  put  on  the  soft  hat  and  joined  my 
friends  without  being  recognized  by  strangers,  for  I 
was  not  the  same  man.  Sumner  and  Hunter  wished 
to  accompany  me.  I  said  no;  3*011  are  known,  and 
your  presence  might  betray  me.  I  will  only  take  La- 
mon  (now  marshal  of  this  district),  whom  nobody 
knew,  and  Mr.  Judd.  Sumner  and  Hunter  felt  hurt. 
We  went  back  to  Philadelphia,  and  found  a  message 


PEN  AND  VOICE  47 

there  from  Pinkerton  (who  had  returned  to  Balti- 
more'), that  the  conspirators  had  held  their  final  meet- 
ing that  evening,  and  it  was  doubtful  whether  they 
had  the  nerve  to  attempt  the  execution  of  their  pur- 
pose. I  went  on,  however,  as  the  arrangement  had 
been  made,  in  a  special  train.  We  were  not  long  in 
the  station  at  Baltimore.  _  I  heard  people  talking 
around,  but  no  one  particularly  observed  me.  At  an 
early  hour  on  Saturday  morning,  at  about  the  time  I 
was  expected  to  leave  Harrisburg,  I  arrived  in  Wash- 
ington. 

Speech  at  Washington,  February   28,  1861,  in   Re- 
sponse to  a  Serenade  by  Republican  Associations. 

My  friends: — T  suppose  that  I  may  take  this  as  a 
compliment  paid  to  me,  and  as  such  please  accept  my 
thanks  for  it.  I  have  reached  this  city  of  Washing- 
ton under  circumstances  considerably  (littering  from 
those  under  which  any  other  man  ever  reached  it.  I 
I  am  here  for  the  purpose  of  taking  an  official  posi- 
tion amongst  the  people,  almost  all  of  whom  were 
politically  opposed  to  me,  and  arc  yet  opposed  to  me, 
as  I  suppose. 

I  propose  no  lengthy  address  to  you.  I  only  pro- 
pose to  say,  as  I  did  yesterday,  when  your  worthy 
Mayor  and  Board  of  Aldermen  called  upon  me,  that 
I  thought  much  of  the  ill-feeling  that  has  existed  be- 
tween you  and  the  people  of  your  surroundings,  and 
that  people  from  among  whom  I  came,  has  depended, 
and  now  depends,  upon  a  misunderstanding. 

I  hope  that  if  things  shall  go  along  as  prosperously 
as  I  believe  we  all  desire  they  may,  I  may  have  it  in 


48  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

my  power  to  remove  something  of  the  misunderstand- 
ing: that  I  may  be  enabled  to  convince  you,  and  the 
people  of  your  section  of  the  country,  that  we  regard 
you  as  in  all  tilings  our  equals,  and  in  all  tilings  en- 
titled to  the  same  respect  and  the  same  treatment  that 
we  claim  for  ourselves :  that  we  are  in  nowise  dis- 
posed,  if  it  were  in  our  p,ower  to  oppress  you,  to  de- 
prive you  of  any  of  your  rights  under  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  or  over-narrowly  to  split 
hairs  with  you  in  regard  to  these  rights,  but  are  de- 
termined to  give  you,  as  far  as  lies  in  our  hands,  all 
your  rights  under  the  Constitution — not  errudfiringly, 
but  fully  and  fairly.  (Applause).  I  hope  that,  by 
thus  dealing  with  you,  we  will  become  better  ac- 
quainted, and  be  better  friends. 

And  now,  with  these  few  remarks,  and  again  re- 
turning my  thanks  for  this  compliment,  and  express- 
ing my  desire  to  hear  a  little  more  of  your  good  music, 
I  bid  you  good-night. 

Inaugural  Address  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
March  4,  1861. 

Fellow  Citizens  of  the  United  States: — In  compli- 
ance with  a  custom  as  old  as  the  government  itself,  I 
appear  before  you  to  address  you  briefly,  and  to  take, 
in  your  presence,  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  to  be  taken  by  the  presi- 
dent before  he  enters  on  the  execution  of  his  office. 

I  do  not  consider  it  necessary,  at  present,  for  me  to 
discuss  those  matters  of  administration  about  which 
there  is  no  special  anxiety  or  excitement.  Apprehen- 
sion seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the  Southern 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  40 

States,  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  adminis- 
tration, their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal 
security  are  to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been 
any  reasonable  cause  for  such  apprehension.  Indeed, 
the  most  ample  evidence  to  the  contrary  has  all  tie- 
while  existed,  and  been  open  to  their  inspection.  It 
is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him 
who  now  addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of 
those  speeches,  when  I  declare  that  "I  have  no  pur 
poses  directly  or  indirectly,  to  interfere  with  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery,  in  the  states  where  it  exists."  I 
believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have 
no  inclination  to  do  so.  Those  who  nominated  and 
elected  me  did  so  with  the  full  knowledge  that  I  had 
made  this  and  many  similar  declarations,  and  had 
never  recanted  them.  And,  more  than  this,  they 
placed  in  the  platform  for  my  acceptance,  and  as  a  law 
to  themselves  and  to  me,  the  clear  and  emphatic  reso- 
lution which  I  now  read: — 

"Hesoloed,  that  the  maintainance  inviolate  of  the 
rights  of  the  states,  and  especially  the  right  of  each 
state  to  order  and  control  its  own  domestic  institu- 
tions according  to  its  own  judgment  exclusively,  is 
essential  to  that  balance  of  power  on  which  the  per- 
fection and  endurance  of  our  political  fabric  depend; 
and  we  denounce  the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force 
of  the  soil  of  any  state  or  territory,  no  matter  under 
what  pretext,  as  among  the  gravest  of  crimes." 

I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments,  and,  in  doing  so,  I 
only  press  upon  the  public  attention  the  most  conclu- 
sive evidence  of  which  the  case  is  susceptible,  that  the 
property,  peace    and   security  of  no   section    are   to 
5 


50  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

be  in  any  wise  endangered  bv  the  now  incoming- 
administration. 

I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which,  consis- 
tently with  the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be 
given,  will  be  cheerfully  given  to  all  the  states,  when 
lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever  cause,  as  cheerfully 
to  one  section  as  to  another.  There  is  much  contro- 
versy about  the  delivering  up  of  fugitives  from  serv- 
ice or  labor.  The  clause  I  now  read  is  as  plainly 
written  in  the  Constitution  as  any  other  of  its  pro- 
visions: 

"No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  state 
under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall, 
in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation  therein,  be 
discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  de- 
livered up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service 
or  labor  may  be  due." 

It  is  scarcely  questioned  that  this  provision  was  in- 
tended by  those  who  made  it  for  the  reclaiming  of 
what  we  call  fugitive  slaves  ;  and  the  intention  of  the 
law-giver  is  the  law. 

All  members  of  Congress  swear  their  support  to  the 
whole  Constitution, — to  this  provision  as  well  as  any 
other.  To  the  proposition  then  that  slaves  whose 
cases  come  within  the  terms  of  this  clause,  "  shall  be 
delivered  up,"  their  oaths  are  unanimous.  Now,  if 
they  would  make  the  effort  in  good  temper,  could 
they  not,  with  nearly  equal  unanimity,  frame  and 
pass  a  law  by  means  of  which  to  keep  good  that 
unanimous  oath  ? 

There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  whether  this 
clause  should  be  enforced  by  national  or  by  state   au- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  51 

thority ;  but  surely  that  difference  is  not  a  very  ma- 
terial one.  If  the  slave  is  to  be  surrendered,  it  ean  be 
of  but  little  consequenee  to  him  or  to  others  by  which 
authority  it  is  done,  and  should  any  one  in  any  case 
be  content  that  this  oath  shall  go  unkept  on  a  merely 
unsubstantial  controversy,  as  to  how  it  shall  be  kept? 

Again,  in  any  law  upon  this  subject,  ought  not  all 
the  safe-guards  of  liberty  known  in  civilized  and  hu- 
mane jurisprudence  to  be  introduced,  so  that  a  free 
man  be  not,  in  any  case,  surrendered  as  a  slave  ?  And 
might  it  not  be  well  at  the  same  time  to  provide  by 
law  for  the  enforcement  of  that  clause  in  the  Consti- 
tution which  guarantees  that  "the  citizens  of  each 
state  shall  be  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  immu- 
nities of  citizens  in  the  several  states? " 

I  take  the  official  oath  to-day  with  no  mental  reser- 
valions,  and  with  no  purpose  to  construe  the  Consti- 
tution or  laws  by  any  hypercritical  rules  ;  and,  while 
I  do  not  chose  now  to  specify  particular  acts  of  Con- 
gress as  proper  to  be  enforced,  I  do  suggest  that 
it  will  be  much  safer  for  all,  both  in  official  and  pri- 
vate stations,  to  conform  to  and  abide  by  all  those 
acts  which  stand  unrepealed,  than  to  violate  any  of 
them,  trusting  to  find  impunity  in  having  them  held 
to  be  unconstitutional. 

It  is  seventy-two  years  since  the  first  inauguration 
of  a  president  under  our  national  Constitution.  Dur- 
ing that  period,  fifteen  different  and  very  distinguished 
citizens  have  in  succession  administered  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government.  They  have  conducted  it 
through  many  perils,  and  generally  with  great  suc- 
cess.    Yet,  with  all  this  scope  for  precedent,  I  now 


52  Abraham  Lincoln's 

enter  upon  the  same  task,  for  the  brief  constitutional 
term  of  four  years,  under  great  and  peculiar  difficul- 
ties. 

A  disruption  of  the  Federal  Union,  heretofore  only 
menaced,  is  now  formidably  attempted.  I  hold,  that, 
in  the  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  the  Con- 
stitution, the  union  of  these  states  is  perpetual.  Per- 
petuity is  implied,  if  not  expressed,  in  the  fundamental 
law  of  all  national  governments.  It  is  safe  to  assert 
that  no  government  proper  ever  had  a  provision  in  its 
organic  law  for  its  own  termination.  Continue  to 
execute  all  the  express  provisions  of  our  national 
Constitution,  and  the  Union  will  endure  forever;  it 
being  impossible  to  destroy  it,  except  by  some  action 
not  provided  for  in  the  instrument  itself.  Again,  if 
the  United  States  be  not  a  government  proper,  but 
an  association  of  states  in  the  nature  of  a  contract 
merely,  can  it,  as  a  contract,  be  peaceably  unmade  by 
less  than  all  the  parties  who  made  it  ?  One  party  to 
a  contract  may  violate  it — break  it,  so  to  speak  ;  but 
does  it  not  require  all  to  lawfully  rescind  it?  De- 
scending from  these  general  principles,  we  find  the 
proposition  that  in  legal  contemplation  the  Union  is 
perpetual,  confirmed  by  the  history  of  the  Union  in 

itself. 

The  Union  is  much  older  than  the  Constitution. 
It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by  the  Articles  of  Association 
in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  continued  in  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was  further 
matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  states 
expressly  plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be 
perpetual,  by  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  in  1778; 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  53 

and,  finally,  in  1787,  one  of  the  declared  objects  for 
ordaining  and  establishing  the  Constitution  was  to 
form  a  more  perfect  Union.  But,  if  the  destruction 
of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of  the  states 
be  lawfully  possible,  the  Union  is  less  than  before, 
the  Constitution  having  lost  the  vital  element  of 
perpetuity. 

It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  state,  upon  its 
own  mere  motion,  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union; 
that  resolves  and  ordinances  to  that  effect  are  legally 
void;  and  that  acts  of  violence  within  any  state  or 
states  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  are 
insurrectionary  or  revolutionary  according  to  circum- 
stances. I  therefore  consider,  that,  in  view  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken: 
and,  to  the  extent  of  my  ability  I  shall  take  care,  as 
the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  upon  me, 
that  the  laws  of  the  Union  shall  be  faithfully  executed 
in  all  the  states.  Doing  this,  which  I  deem  to  be  only 
a  simple  duty  on  my  part,  I  shall  perfectly  perform 
it  so  far  as  is  practicable,  unless  my  rightful  masters, 
the  American  people,  shall  withhold  the  requisite 
power,  or  in  some  authoritative  manner  direct  the 
contrary.  I  trust  this  will  not  be  regarded  as  a 
menace,  but  only  as  the  declared  purpose  of  the 
Union  that  it  will  constitutionally  defend  and  main- 
tain itself.  In  doing  this,  there  need  be  no  bloodshed 
nor  violence  ;  and  there  shall  be  none  unless  it  is 
forced  upon  the  national  authority.  The  power  con- 
fided to  me  will  be  used  to  hold,  occupy,  and  jiossess  the 
property  and  places  belonging  to  the  Government,  and 
collect  the  duties  and  imposts;  but,  beyond  what  may 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

be  necessary  for  these  objects,  there  will  be  no  inva- 
sion, no  using  of  force  against  or  among  the  people 
anywhere. 

Where  hostility  to  the  United  States  shall  be  so 
great  and  so  universal  as  to  prevent  competent  resi- 
dent citizens  from  holding  the  Federal  offices,  there 
will  be  no  attempt  to  force  obnoxious  strangers  among 
the  people  for  that  object.  While  the  strict  legal 
right  may  exist  of  the  Government  to  enforce  the 
exercise  of  these  offices,  the  attempt  to  do  so  would 
be  so  irritating,  and  so  nearly  impracticable  withal, 
that  I  deem  it  better  to  forego  for  the  time  the  uses 
of  such  offices. 

The  mails,  unless  repelled,  will  continue  to  be  furn- 
ished in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 

So  far  as  possible,  the  people  every- where  shall  have 
that  sense  of  perfect  security  which  is  most  favorable 
to  calm  thought  and  reflection. 

The  course  here  indicated  will  be  followed,  unless 
current  events  and  experience  shall  show  a  modifica- 
tion or  change  to  be  proper;  and  in  every  case  and 
exigency  my  best  discretion  will  be  exercised  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  actually  existing,  and  with 
a  view  and  hope  of  a  peaceful  solution  of  the  national 
troubles,  and  the  restoration  of  fraternal  sympathies 
and  affections.  That  there  are  persons  in  one  section 
or  another,  who  seek  to  destroy  the  Union  at  all 
events,  and  are  glad  of  any  pretext  to  do  it,  I  will 
neither  affirm  nor  deny.  But,  if  there  be  such,  I  need 
address  no  word  to  them. 

To  those,  however,  who  really  love  the  Union,  may 
I  not  speak  ?     Before  entering  upon  so  grave  a  matter 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  55 

as  the  destruction  of  our  national  fabric,  with  all  its 

benefits,  its  memories,  and  its  hopes,  would  it  not  be 
well  to  ascertain  why  we  do  it?  Will  you  hazard  so 
desperate  a  step,  while  any  portion  of  the  ills  you  fly 
from  have  no  real  existence  ?  Will  you,  while  the 
certain  ills  you  fly  to  are  greater  than  all  the  real 
ones  you  fly  from  ?  Will  you  risk  the  commission  of 
so  fearful  a  mistake  ?  All  profess  to  be  content  in 
the  Union  if  all  constitutional  rights  can  be  main- 
tained. Is  it  true,  then,  that  any  right,  plainly  written 
in  the  Constitution,  has  been  denied?  I  think  not. 
Happily  the  human  mind  is  so  constituted,  that  no 
party  can  reach  to  the  audacity  of  doing  this. 

Think,  if  you  can,  of  a  single  instance  in  which  a 
plainly  written  provision  of  the  Constitution  has  ever 
been  denied.  If,  by  the  mere  force  of  numbers,  a 
majority  should  deprive  a  minority  of  any  clearly 
written  constitutional  right,  it  might,  in  a  moral  point 
of  view,  justify  revolution  ;  it  certainly  would,  if  such 
right  were  a  vital  one.     But  such  is  not  our  case. 

All  the  vital  rights  of  minorities  and  of  individuals 
are  so  plainly  assured  to  them  by  affirmations  and 
negations,  guarantees  and  prohibitions,  in  the  Con- 
stitution, that  controversies  never  arise  concerning 
them.  But  no  organic  law  can  ever  be  framed  with 
a  provision  specifically  applicable  to  every  question 
which  may  occur  in  practical  administration.  No 
foresight  can  anticipate,  nor  any  document  of  reason- 
able length  contain,  express  provision  for  all  possible 
questions.  Shall  fugitives  from  labor  be  surrendered 
by  National  or  by  state  authority  ?  The  Constitution 
does  not  expressly  say.    Must  Congress  protect  slavery 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

in  the  territories?  The  Constitution  does  not  ex- 
pressly say.  From  questions  of  this  class  spring  all 
our  constitutional  controversies,  and  we  divide  upon 
them  into  majorities  and  minorities.  If  the  minority 
will  not  acquiesce,  the  majority  must,  or  the  govern- 
ment must  cease.  There  is  no  alternative  for  con- 
tinuing the  government  hut  acquiescence  on  the  one 
side  or  the  other. 

If  a  minority,  in  such  a  case,  will  secede  rather 
than  acquiesce,  they  make  a  precedent  which  in  turn 
will  ruin  and  divide  them;  for  a  minority  of  their 
own  will  secede  from  them,  whenever  a  majority  re- 
fuses to  he  controlled  by  such  a  minority.  For 
instance,  why  not  any  portion  of  a  new  confederacy,  a 
year  or  two  hence,  arbitrarily  secede  again,  precisely 
as  portions  of  the  present  Union  now  claim  to  secede 
from  it?  All  who  cherish  disunion  sentiments  are 
now  being  educated  to  the  exact  temper  of  doing  this. 
Is  there  such  perfect  identity  of  interests  among  the 
states  to  compose  a  new  Union  as  to  produce  harmony 
only,  and  prevent  renewed  secession  ?  Plainly,  the 
central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of  anarchy. 

A  majority  held  in  restraint  by  constitutional  check 
and  limitation  and  always  changing  easily  with  delib- 
erate changes  of  popular  opinions  and  sentiments,  is 
the  only  true  sovereign  of  a  free  people.  Whoever 
rejects  it  does,  of  necessity,  fly  to  anarchy  or  to  despot- 
ism. Unanimity  is  impossible  :  the  rule  of  a  minority 
as  a  permanent  arrangement,  is  wholly  inadmissible 
so  that,  rejecting  the  majority  principle,  anarchy  or 
despotism  in  some  form  is  all  that  is  left. 

I  do  not  forget  the  position  assumed  by  some,  that 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  57 

Constitutional  questions  are  to  be  decided  by  the 
Supreme  Court,  nor  do  I  deny  that  such  decisions 
must  be  binding;  in  any  case  upon  the  parties  to  a 
suit,  as  jto  the  object  to  that  suit;  while  they  arc  also 
entitled  to  very  high  respect  and  consideration  in  all 
parallel  cases  by  other  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  and,  while  it  is  obviously  possible  that  such 
decision  may  be  erroneous  in  any  given  case,  still,  the 
evil  effect  following;  it,  being  limited  to  that  particular 
case,  with  the  chance  that  it  may  be  overruled  and 
never  become  a  precedent  for  other  eases,  can  better 
be  borne  than  could  the  evils  of  a  different  practice. 

At  the  same  time,  the  candid  citizen  must  confess 
that,  if  the  policy  of  the  government  upon  the  vital 
questions  affecting  the  whole  people  is  to  be  irrevoc- 
ably -fixed  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  the 
instant  they  are  made,  as  in  ordinary  litigation  be- 
tween parties  in  personal  actions,  the  people  will  have 
ceased  to  be  their  own  masters,  having  to  that  extent 
practically  resigned  their  government  into  the  hands 
of  that  eminent  tribunal. 

Nor  is  there  in  this  view  any  assault  upon  the  court 
or  the  judges.  It  is  a  duty  from  which  they  may  not 
shrink,  to  decide  cases  properly  brought  before  them  ; 
and  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  if  others  seek  to  tnm  their 
decisions  to  political  purposes.  One  section  of  our 
country  believes  that  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to  be 
extended,  while  the  other  believes  it  is  wrong,  and 
ought  not  to  be  extended;  and  this  is  the  only  sub- 
stantial dispute.  And  the  fugutive-slave  clause  of  the 
Constitution,  and  the  law  for  the  suppression  of  the 
foreign  slave  trade,  are  each  as   well  enforced,  per- 


58  Abraham  Lincoln's 

haps,  as  any  law  can  ever  be  in  a  community  where 
the  moral  sense  of  the  people  imperfectly  supports  the 
law  itself.  The  great  body  of  the  people  abide  by  the 
dry,  legal  obligation  in  both  cases,  and  a  few  break 
over  in  each. 

This,  I  think,  can  not  be  perfectly  cured ;  and  it 
would  be  worse  in  both  cases  after  the  separation  of 
the  sections  than  before.  The  foreign  slave  trade, 
now  imperfectly  suppressed,  would  be  ultimately  re- 
vived, without  restriction,  in  one  section;  while  fugi- 
tive slaves,  now  only  partially  surrendered,  would  not 
be  surrendered  at  all  by  the  other. 

Physically  speaking,  we  c.an  not  separate;  we  can- 
not move  our  respective  sections  from  each  other,  nor 
build  an  impassable  wall  between  them.  A  husband 
and  wife  may  be  divorced,  and  go  out  of  the  presence 
and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other;  but  the  different 
parts  of  our  country  can  not  do  this.  They  can  not 
but  remain  face  to  face  ;  and  intercourse,  either  amic- 
able or  hostile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it 
possible,  then,  to  make  that  intercourse  more  advan- 
tageous or  more  satisfactory  after  separation  than  be- 
fore ?  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends 
can  make  laws  ?  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  en- 
forced between  aliens  than  laws  can  among  friends? 
Suppose  you  go  to  war,  you  can  not  light  always  > 
and  when,  after  much  loss*  on  both  sides,  and  no  gain 
on  either,  you  cease  fighting,  the  identical  questions 
as  to  terms  of  intercourse  are  again  upon  you. 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the 
people  who  inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow 
weary  of  the  existing  government,  they  can  exercise 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  59 

their  constitutional  right,  of  amending,  or  their  revo- 
lutionary right  to  dismember  or  overthrow  it.  I  can 
not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  many  worthy  and 
patriotic  citizens  are  desirous  of  having  the  national 
Constitution  amended.  While  I  make  no  recommen- 
dation of  amendment,  I  fully  recognize  the  full  au- 
thority of  the  people  over  the  whole  subject,  to  be 
exercised  in  either  of  the  modes  prescribed  in  the 
instrument  itself;  and  I  should,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances, favor  rather  than  oppose  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity being  afforded  the  people  to  act  upon  it. 

I  will  venture  to  add,  that  to  me  the  convention 
mode  seems  preferable,  in  that  it  allows  amendments 
to  originate  with  the  people  themselves,  instead  of 
only  permitting  them  to  take  or  reject  propositions 
originated  by  others  not  especially  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose, and  which  might  not  be  precisely  such  as  they 
would  wish  either  to  accept  or  refuse.  I  understand 
that  a  proposed  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
[which  amendment,  however,  I  have  not  seen]  has 
passed  Congress,  to  the  effect  that  the  Federal  govern- 
ment shall  never  interfere  with  the  domestic  institu- 
tions of  states,  including  that  of  persons  held  to  ser- 
vice. To  avoid  misconstruction  of  what  I  have  said, 
I  depart  from  my  purpose  not  to  speak  of  particular 
amendments  so  far  as  to  say,  that,  holding  such  a  pro- 
vision to  now  be  implied  constitutional  law,  I  have, 
no  objection  to  its  being  made  express  and  irrevoc- 
able. The  chief  magistrate  derives  all  his  authority 
from  the  people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon 
him  to  fix  the  terms  for  the  separation  of  the  states. 
The   people,  themselves,   also    can    do    this    if  they 


60  ABKAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

choose;  but  the  Executive,  as  such,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  His  duty  is  to  administer  the  present  govern- 
ment as  it  came  to  his  hands,  and  to  transmit  it  unim- 
paired by  him  to  his  successor. 

Why  should  there  not  he  a  patient  confidence  in 
the  ultimate  justice  of  the  people  ?  Is  there  any 
better  or  equal  hope  in  the  world?  In  our  present 
differences,  is  either  party  without  faith  of  being  in 
the  right?  If  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  Nations,  with 
his  eternal  truth  and  justice,  be  on  your  side  of  the 
North,  or  on  yours  of  the  South,  that  truth  and  that 
justice  will  surely  prevail  by  the  judgment  of  this 
great  tribunal — the  American  people.  By  the  frame 
of  the  government  under  which  we  live,  this  same 
people  have  wisely  given  (heir  public  servants  but 
little  power  for  mischief,  and  have  with  equal  wis- 
dom provided  for  the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own 
hands  at  very  short  intervals.  While  the  people  re- 
tain their  virtue  and  vigilance,  no  administration,  by 
any  extreme  wickedness  or  folly,  can  very  seriously 
injure  the  government  in  the  short  space  of  four  years# 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well 
upon  this  whole  subject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be 
lost  by  taking  time. 

If  there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you,  in  hot 
haste,  to  a  step  which  you  would  never  take  deliber- 
ately, that  object  will  be  frustrated  by  taking  time ; 
but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated  by  it  Such  of 
you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old  Consti- 
tution unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the 
laws  of  your  own  framing  under  it ;   while  the  new 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  61 

administration  will  have  no  immediate  power,  if  it 
would,  to  change  either. 

If  it  were  admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied 
hold  the  right  side  in  the  dispute,  there  is  still  no  single 
reason  for  precipitate  action.  Intelligence,  patriotism, 
Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on  Him  who  has 
never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land,  are  still  com- 
petent to  adjust,  in  the  best  way,  all  our  present  diffi- 
culties. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen, 
and  not  in  mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war. 
The  government  will  not  assail  you. 

You  can -have  no  conflict  without  being  yourselves 
the  aggressors.  You  can  have  no  oath  registered  in 
Heaven  to  destroy  the  government;  while  I  shall 
have  the  most  solemn  one  to  "preserve,  protect  and 
defend  ''it. 

I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but 
friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion 
may  have  strained,  it  must  not  break  our  bonds  of 
affection.  The  mystic  cords  of  memory,  stretching 
from  every  battle-field  and  patriot  grave  to  every 
living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land, 
will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again 
touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels 
of  our  nature. 


oh!   why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud. 

[The  following  poem,  written   by  William  Knox,  a 
Scottish  poet  of  considerable  talent,  has  been  widely 


,?>-  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

published.     It  was  a  great   favorite  with   President 
Lincoln,  by  whom  it  was  often  recited.] 

Oh,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud ? 
Like  a  swift,  fleeting  meteor,  a  fast-flying  cloud, 
A  flash  of  the  lightning,  a  break  of  the  wave, 
He  passeth  from  life  to  his  rest  iu  the  grave. 

The  leaves  of  the  oak  and  the  willow  shall  fade, 
Be  scattered  around  and  together  be  laid  ; 
And  the  young  and  the  old,  and  the  low  and  the  high 
Shall  molder  to  dust,  and  together  shall  lie. 

The  infant  a  mother  attended  and  loved; 
The  mother  that  infant's  affection  who  proved; 
The  husband  that  mother  and  infant  who  blessed, 
Each,  all,  are  away  to  their  dwellings  of  rest. 

The  hand  of  the  king  that  the  scepter  hath  born; 
The  brow  of  the  priest  that  tin-  miter  hath  worn; 
The  eye  of  the  sage  and  the  heart  of  the  brave, 
Are  hidden  and  lost  in  the  depths  of  the  grave. 

The  peasant,  whose  lot  was  to  sow  and  to  reap; 
The  herdsman,  who  climbed  with  his  goats  up  the  steep; 
The  beggar,  who  wandered  in  search  of  his  bread, 
Have  faded  away  like  the  grass  that  we  tread. 

The  maid  on  whose  cheek,  on  whose  brow,  in  whose  eye 
Shone  beauty  and  pleasure — her  triumphs  are  by; 
And  the  memory  of  those  who  loved  her  and  praised, 
Are  alike  from  the  minds  of  the  living  erased. 


*& 


The  saint  who  enjoyed  the  communion  of  heaven, 
The  sinner  who  dared  to  remain  unforgiven, 
The  wise  and  the  foolish,  the  guilty  and  just. 
Have  quietly  mingled  their  bones  in  the  dust. 

So  the  multitude  goes,  like  the  flower  or  the  weed 
That  withers  away  to  let  others  succeed  : 
So  the  multitude  comes,  even  those  we  behold, 
To  repeat  every  tale  that  has  often  been  told. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  63 

For  we  are  the  same  our  fathers  have  been ; 
We  see  the  same  sights  our  fathers  have  seen — 
We  drink  the  same  stream  and  view  the  same  sun— 
And  run  the  same  course  our  fathers  have  run. 

The  thoughts  we  are  thinking  our  fathers  would  think; 
From  the  death  we  are  shrinking  our  fathers  would  shrink; 
To  the  life  we  are  clinging  they  also  would  cling; 
But  it  speeds  for  us  all,  like  a  bird  on  I  he  wing. 

They  loved,  but  the  story  we  can  not  unfold; 
They  scorned,  but  the  heart  of  the  haughty  is  cold; 
They  grieved,  but  no  wail  from  their  slumber  will  conic; 
They  joyed,  but  the  tongue  of  their  gladness  is  dumb. 

They  died,  aye!  they  died;  we  things  that  are  now, 
That  walk  on  the  turf  that  lies  over  their  brow, 
And  make  in  their  dwellings  a  transient  abode, 
Meet  the  things  that  they  met  on  their  pilgrimage  road. 

Yea!  hope  and  despondency,  pleasure  and  pain, 
We  mingle  together  in  sunshine  and  rain; 
And  the  smile  and  the  tear,  the  song  and  the  dirge, 
Still  follow  each  other,  like  surge  upon  surge. 

'Tis  the  wink  of  an  eye,  'tis  the  draught  of  a  breath; 
From  the  blossom  of  health  to  the  paleness  of  death, 
From  the  gilded  saloon  to  the  bier  and  the  shroud- 
Ob,  why  should  the  spirit  of  mortal  be  proud? 


Lincoln's  Letter  to  Senor  Molina,  March  17,  1861. 

I  am  happy  to  receive  the  letters  you  present,  and 
to  recognize  yon,  sir,  as  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Nicaragua,  near  the  U. 
S.  In  conferring  a  higher  rank  upon  yon,  as  a  token 
of  regard  on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  people 
of  [Nicaragua  toward  this  country,  they  have  done 
our  Government  and  people  an  honor,  for  which  we 


64  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

are  duly  grateful ;  while  they  have  also  manifested  an 
increased  confidence  in  you,  which  we  can  attest  is 
deserved,  and  thereby  have  done  you  a  distinguished 
honor,  upon  which  we  congratulate  you.  On  behalf 
of  the  United  States  I  fully  reciprocate  toward  your 
government  and  people  the  kind  wishes  and  friendly 
purposes  you  so  generously  express  toward  ours. 
Please  communicate  to  his  Excellency,  the  President 
of  Nicaragua,  my  high  esteem  and  consideration,  and 
my  earnest  wish  for  his  health,  happiness  and  long 
life.  Be  assured,  sir,  I  do  not  allow  myself  to  doubt 
that  your  public  duties  and  social  intercourse  here 
will  be  so  conducted  as  to  be  entirely  acceptable  to 
the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Lincoln's  Reply    to    the    Delegates  from  Virginia, 

April  13,  1861. 

Hon.  Messrs.  Preston,  Stuart,  and  Randolph,  Gentle- 
men:— As  a  committee  of  the  Virginia  Convention, 
now  in  session,  you  present  me  a  preamble  and  reso- 
lution in  these  words : 

"  Whereas,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Convention,  the 
uncertainty  which  prevails  in  the  public  mind  as  to 
the  policy  which  the  Federal  executive  intends  to 
pursue  towards  the  seceded  states  is  extremely  inju- 
rious to  the  industrial  and  commercial  interests  of 
the  country,  tends  to  keep  up  an  excitement  which 
is  unfavorable  to  an  adjustment  of  pending  diffi- 
culties, and  threatens  a  disturbance  of  the  public 
peace :  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  delegates  be 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  65 

appointed   to  wait  on   the   President    of  the   United 

States,  present  to  him  this  preamble  and  resolution, 
and  respectfully  ask  him  to  communicate  to  this  Con- 
vention the  policy  which  the  Federal  executive  in- 
tends to. pursue  in  regard  to  the  Confederate  States." 

In  answer,  I  have  to  say  that,  having  at  the  begin- 
ning of  my  official  term  expressed  my  intended  pol- 
icy as  plainly  as  I  was  able,  it  is  with  deep  regret  and 
some  mortification  that  I  now  learn  that  there  is 
great  and  injurious  uncertainty  in  the  public  mind  as 
to  what  that  policy  is,  and  what  course  I  intend  to 
pursue.  Not  having  as  yet  seen  occasion  to  change, 
it  is  now  my  purpose  to  pursue  the  course  marked 
out  in  the  inaugural  address.  I  commend  a  careful 
consideration  of  the  whole  document  as  the  best  ex- 
pression I  can  give  of  my  purposes.  As  I  then  and 
therein  said,  I  now  repeat : 

"  The  power  confided  to  me  will  be  used  to  hold, 
occupy,  and  possess  the  property  and  places  belong- 
ing to  the  government,  and  to  collect  the  duties  and 
imports;  but  beyond  what  is  necessary  for  these  ob- 
jects, there  will  be  no  invasion,  no  using  of  force 
against  or  among  the  people  anywhere." 

By  the  words  "property  and  places  belonging  to 
the  government,"  I  chiefly  allude  to  the  military 
posts  and  property  which  were  in  the  possession  of 
the  government  when  it  came  to  my  hands.  But  if, 
as  now  appears  to  be  true,  in  pursuit  of  a  purpose  to 
drive  the  United  States  authority  from  these  places, 
an  unprovoked  assault  has  been  made  upon  Fort 
Sumter,  I  shall  hold  myself  at  liberty  to  repossess,  it" 
I  can,  like  places  which  had  been  seized  before  the 
6 


66  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

government  was  devolved  upon  me.  And,  in  any 
event,  I  shall,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  repel  force  by 
force.  In  case  it  proves  true  that  Fort  Sumter  has 
been  assaulted,  as  is  reported,  I  shall,  perhaps,  cause 
the  United  States  mails  to  be  withdrawn  from  all  the 
states  which  claim  to  have  seceded,  believing  that 
the  commencement  of  actual  war  against  the  govern- 
ment justifies  and  possibly  demands  it. 

I  scarcely  need  to  say  that  I  consider  the  military 
posts  and  property  situated  within  the  states  which 
claim  to  have  seceded  as  yet  belonging  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  as  much  as  they  did  before 
the  supposed  secession. 

Whatever  else  I  may  do  for  the  purpose,  I  shall 
not  attempt  to  collect  the  duties  and  imposts  by  any 
armed  invasion  of  any  part  of  the  country — not 
meaning  by  this,  however,  that  I  may  not  land  a 
force  deemed  necessary  to  relieve  a  fort  upon  the 
border  of  the  country. 

From  the  fact  that  I  have  quoted  a  part  of  the 
inaugural  address,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  I  re- 
pudiate any  other  part,  the  whole  of  which  I  re- 
affirm, except  so  far  as  what  I  now  say  of  the  mails 
may  be  regarded  as  a  modification. 

Proclamation,  April  15,  1861. 

AVhereas,  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have 
been  for  some  time  past  and  now  are  opposed,  and 
the  execution  thereof  obstructed,  in  the  States  of 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by  combination  too  pow- 
erful to  be  surpassed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judi- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  67 

cial  proceedings,  or  by  the  powers  vested  in  the  mar- 
shals by  law  ;  now,  therefore,  1,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  virtue  of  the 
power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution  and  the  laws, 
have  thought  fit  to  call  forth  and  hereby  do  call  forth, 
the  militia  of  the  several  states  of  the  Union,  to  the 
aggregate  number  of  seventy-five  thousand,  in  order 
to  suppress  said  combination,  and  to  cause  the  laws 
to  he  duly  executed. 

The  details  for  the  object  will  be  immediately  com- 
municated to  the  state  authorities  through  the  War 
Department.  I  appeal  to  all  local  citizens  to  favor, 
facilitate,  and  aid  this  effort  to  maintain  the  honor, 
the  integrity  and  existence  of  our  National  Union, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government,  and  to  re- 
dress laws  already  long  enough  endured.  I  deem  it 
proper  to  say,  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the 
forces  hereby  called  forth,  will  probably  be  to  repos- 
sess the  forts,  property,  and  places  which  have  been 
seized  from  the  Union  ;  and  in  every  event,  the  ut- 
most care  will  be  observed,  consistently  with  the  ob- 
jects aforesaid,  to  avoid  any  devastation,  any  destruc- 
tion of,  or  interference  with,  property,  or  any  disturb- 
ance of  peaceful  citizens  of  any  part  of  the  country  ; 
and  I  hereby  command  the  persons  composing  the 
combinations  aforesaid  to  disperse  and  retire  peace- 
ably to  their  respective  abodes,  within  twenty  days 
from  this  date. 

Deeming  that  the  present  condition  of  public  affairs 
presents  an  extraordinary  occasion,  I  do  hereby,  in 
virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution, 
convene  both  houses  of  Congress.     The  senators  and 


68  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

representatives  are,  therefore,  summoned  to  assemble 
at  their  respective  chambers  at  twelve  o'clock  noon, 
on  Thursday,  the  fourth  day  of  July  next,  then  and 
there  to  consider  and  determine  such  measures  as,  in 
their  wisdom,  the  public  safety  and  interest  may 
seem  to  demand. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  af- 
tixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  fifteenth  day 
of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-fifth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln   to    Governor  Hicks  and  Mayor 

Brown. 

Washington,  April  20,  1861. 

Gentlemen  : — Your  letter  by  Messrs.  Bond,  Dobbin 
and  Bruno  is  received.  I  tender  you  both  my  sincere 
thanks  for  your  efforts  to  keep  the  peace  in  the  try- 
ing situation  in  which  you  are  placed.  For  the  fu- 
ture, troops  must  be  brought  here,  but  I  make  no  point 
of  bringing  them  through  Baltimore. 

Without  any  military  knowledge  myself,  of  course 
I  must  leave  details  to  General  Scott.  He  hastily  said 
this  morning,  in  the  presence  of  these  gentlemen, 
"  March  them  around  Baltimore,  and  not  through  it/' 

I  sincerely  hope  the  General,  on  fuller  reflection, 
will  consider  this  practical  and  proper,  and  that  you 
will  not  object  to  it.  By  this  a  collision  of  the  people 
of  Baltimore  with  the  troops  will  be  avoided,  unless 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  69 

they  go  out  of  their  way  to  seek  it.  I  hope  you  will 
exert  your  influence  to  prevent  this.  Now  and  ever 
I  shall  do  all  in  my  power  for  peace,  consistently  with 
the  maintenance  of  the  government.  Your  obedient 
servant,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

President   Lincoln's    Reply    to    Frontier    Guards, 

April  28,  1861. 

I  have  desired  as  sincerely  as  any  man — I  sometimes 
think  more  than  any  other  man— that  our  present 
difficulties  might  be  settled  without  the  shedding  of 
blood.  I  will  not  say  that  all  hope  is  }-et  gone.  But 
if  the  alternative  is  presented,  whether  the  Union  is 
to  lie  broken  in  fragments,  and  the  liberties  of  the 
people  lost,  or  blood  be  shed,  you  will  probably  make 
the  choice,  with  which  I  shall  not  be  dissatisfied. 

President   Lincoln's    Reply   to   a   Baltimore    Com- 
mittee, April  28,  1861. 

You,  gentlemen,  come  here  to  me  and  ask  for  peace 
on  any  terms,  and  yet  have  no  word  of  condemnation 
for  those  who  are  making  war  on  us.  You  express 
great  horror  of  bloodshed,  and  yet  would  not  lay 
a  straw  in  the  way  of  those  who  are  organizing  in 
Virginia  and  elsewhere  to  capture  this  city.  The 
rebels  attaek  Fort  Sumter,  ami  your  citizens  attack 
troops  sent  to  the  defense  of  the  government,  ami 
the  lives  and  property  in  Washington,  and  yet  you 
would  have  me  break  my  oath  and  surrender  the 
government  without  a  blow.  There  is  no  Washing- 
ton in  that — no  Jackson  in  that — there  is  no  manhood 
or  honor  in  that.     I    have    no    desire  to  invade  the 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

South  ;  but  I  must  have  troops  to  defend  this  Capital. 
Geographically  it  lies  surrounded  by  the  soil  of  Mary- 
land;  and  mathematically  the  necessity  exists  that 
they  should  come  oyer  her  territory.  Our  men  are 
not  moles,  and  can't  dig  under  the  earth;  they  are 
not  birds,  and  can't  fly  through  the  air.  There  is  no 
way  hut  to  march  across,  and  that  they  must  do. 
But  in  doing  this,  there  is  no  need  of  collision.  Keep 
your  rowdies  in  Baltimore,  and  there  will  he  no  blood- 
shed. Go  home  and  tell  your  people  that  if  they 
will  not  attack  us,  we  will  not  attack  them;  but  it 
they    do    attack    us,    we    will     return    it,    and    that 

severely. 

Proclamation. 

Washington,  Friday,  May  3,  1861. 

AVhereas,  existing;  exigencies  demand  immediate 
and  adequate  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  Xa- 
tional  Constitution  and  the  preservation  of  the  Na- 
tional Union  by  the  suppression  of  the  insurrec- 
tionary combination  now  existing  in  several  states 
for  opposing  the  laws  of  the  Union,  and  obstruct- 
ing the  execution  thereof,  to  which  end  a  mili- 
tary  force,  in  addition  to  that  called  forth  by  my 
proclamation  of  the  fifteenth  day  of  April  in  the 
the  present  year,  appears  to  be  indispensably  neces- 
sary: now.  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
Army  and  Xavv  thereof,  and  of  the  militia  of  the 
several  states  when  called  into  actual  service,  do 
hereby  call  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  forty- 
two  thousand  and  thirty-four  volunteers,  to  serve  for 
a  period  of  three  years,  unless  sooner  discharged,  and 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  71 

to  be  mustered  into  service  as  infantry  and  cavalry. 
The  proportions  of  eacli  arm,  and  the  details  of  en- 
rollment, and  organization,  will  he  made  known 
through  the  Department  of  War;  and  I  also  direct 
that  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States  be  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  eight  regiments  of  in- 
fantry, one  regiment  of  cavalry,  and  one  regiment  of 
artillery,  making  altogether  a  maximum  aggregate 
increase  of  22,714  officers  and  enlisted  men,  the  de- 
tails of  which  increase  will  also  be  made  known 
through  the  War  Department;  and  I  farther  direct 
the  enlistment,  for  not  less  than  one,  nor  more  than 
three  years,  of  18,000  seamen,  in  addition  to  the 
present  force,  for  the  naval  service  of  the  United 
States.  The  details  of  the  enlistment  and  organiza- 
tion will  be  made  known  through  the  Department  of 
the  Navy.  The  call  for  volunteers  hereby  made,  and 
the  direction  of  the  increase  of  the  regular  army,  and 
for  the  enlistment  of  seamen  hereby  given,  together 
with  the  plan  of  organization  adopted  for  the  volun- 
teers and  for  the  regular  forces  hereby  authorized, 
will  be  submitted  to  Congress  as  soon  as  assembled. 

In  the  meantime  I  earnestly  invoke  the  co-operation 
of  all  good  citizens  in  the  measures  hereby  adopted 
for  the  effectual  suppression  of  unlawful  violence,  for 
the  impartial  enforcement  of  constitutional  laws,  and 
for  the  speediest  possible  restoration  of  peace  and 
order,  and  with  those  of  happiness  and  prosperity 
throughout  our  country. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Pone  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  third  day  of 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-fifth.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 

Executive  Mansion,  May  11,  1861. 

Sir: — Lieutenant  D.  D.  Porter  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  steamer  Powhatan,  and  Captain  Samuel 
Mercer  was  detached  therefrom  hy  my  special  order, 
and  neither  of  them  is  responsible  for  any  apparent 
or  real  irregularity  on  their  part  in  connection  with 
that  vessel. 

Hereafter  Captain  Porter  is  relieved  from  that 
special  service  and  placed  under  the  direction  of  the 
Navy  Department,  from  which  he  will  receive  instruc- 
tions and  to  which  he  will  report. 

Very  respectfully,  A.  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln's  First  Message  to  Congress, 

July  4,  1861. 

Having  been  convened  on  an  extraordinary  occa- 
sion, as  authorized  by  the  Constitution,  your  atten- 
tion is  not  called  to  any  ordinary  subject  of  legis- 
lation. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  presidential  term, 
four  months  ago,  the  functions  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment were  found  to  be  generally  suspended  within 
the  several  states  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ala- 
bama, Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Florida,  excepting 
only  those  of  the  Post-office  Department. 

"Within  these  states,  all  the  forts,  arsenals,  dock- 
yards,  custom-houses,    and   the   like,   including   the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  73 

movable  and  stationary  property  in  and  about  them, 
had  been  seized,  and  were  held  in  open  hostility  to 
this  government,  excepting  only  Forts  Pickens,  Tay- 
lor, and  Jefferson,  on  and  near  the  Florida  coast,  and 
Fort  Sumter  in  the  Charleston  Harbor,  South  Caro- 
lina. The  forts  thus  seized  had  been  put  in  improved 
condition  ;  new  ones  had  been  built,  and  armed  forces 
had  been  organized,  and  were  organizing,  all  avowedly 
with  the  same  hostile  purpose. 

The  forts  remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  Fed- 
eral government  in  and  near  these  states  were  either 
besieged  or  menaced  by  war-like  preparations,  and 
especially  Fort  Sumter  was  nearly  surrounded  by 
well-protected  hostile  batteries,  with  guns  equal  in 
quality  to  the  best  of  its  own,  and  outnumbering  the 
latter  as  perhaps  ten  to  one.  A  disproportionate 
share  of  the  Federal  muskets  and  rifles  had  somehow 
found  their  way  into  these  states,  and  been  seized  to 
be  used  against  the  government.  Accumulations  of 
the  public  revenue,  lying  within  them,  had  been  seized 
for  the  same  object.  The  navy  was  scattered  in  dis- 
tant seas,  leaving  but  a  very  small  part  of  it  within 
the  immediate  reach  of  the  government.  Oflicers  of 
the  Federal  army  and  navy  had  resigned  in  great 
numbers  ;  and  of  those  resigning  a  large  proportion 
had  taken  up  arms  against  the  government.  Simul- 
taneously, and  in  connection  with  all  this,  the  purpose 
to  sever  the  Federal  Union  was  openly  avowed.  I* 
accordance  with  this  purpose  an  ordinance  had  been 
adopted  in  each  of  these  states,  declaring  the  states, 
respectively,  to  be  separated  from  the  national  Union. 

A  formula  for  instituting  a  combined  government 
7 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

of  these  states  had  been  promulgated  ;  and  this  illegal 
organization,  in  the  character  of  Confederate  States, 
was  already  invoking  recognition,  aid  and  interven- 
tion from  foreign  powers. 

Finding  this  condition  of  things,  and  believing  it  to 
be  an  imperative  duty  upon  the  incoming  Executive 
to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  consummation  of  such  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  Federal  Union,  a  choice  of 
means  to  that  end  became  indispensable.  This  choice 
was  made,  and  was  declared  in  the  inaugural  address. 
The  policy  chosen  looked  to  the  exhaustion  of  all 
peaceful  measures,  before  a  resort  to  any  stronger 
ones.  It  sought  only  to  hold  the  public  places  and 
property  not  already  wrested  from  the  government, 
and  to  collect  the  revenue;  relying  for  the  rest  on 
time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box.  It  promised  a 
continuance  of  the  mails,  at  government  expense,  to 
the  very  people  who  were  resisting  the  government ; 
and  it  gave  repeated  pledges  against  any  disturbance 
to  any  of  the  people,  or  any  of  their  rights.  Of  all 
that  which  a  President  might  constitutionally  and 
justifiably  do  in  such  a  case,  every  thing  was  forborne, 
without  which  it  was  believed  possible  to  keep  the 
government  on  foot. 

On  the  5th  of  March  [the  present  incumbent's  first 
full  day  in  office]  a  letter  of  Major  Anderson,  com- 
manding at  Fort  Sumter,  written  on  the  28th  of  Feb- 
ruary, and  received  at  the  War  Department  on  the 
4th  of  March,  was,  by  that  Department,  placed  in  his 
hands.  This  letter  expressed  the  professional  opinion 
of  the  writer  that  reinforcements  could  not  be  thrown 
into  the  fort  within  the  time  for  his  relief,  rendered 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  75 

necessary  by  the  limited  supply  of  provisions,  and 
with  n  view  of  holding  possession  of  the  same,  with 
a  force  of  less  than  twenty  thousand  good  and  well- 
disciplined  men.  This  opinion  was  concurred  in  by 
all  the  officers  of  his  command,  and  their  ^nemora nda 
on  the  subject  were  made  inclosures  of  Major  Ander- 
son's letter.  The  whole  was  immediately  laid  before 
Lieut.- General  Scott,  who  at  once  concurred  with 
Major  Anderson  in  opinion.  On  reflection,  however 
he  took  full  time,  consulting  with  other  officers,  both 
of  the  army  and  the  navy,  and,  at  the  end  of  four  days, 
came  reluctantly,  but  decidedly  to  the  same  conclu- 
sion as  before.  He  also  stated  at  the  same  time  that 
no  such  sufficient  force  was  then  at  the  control  of  the 
government,  or  could  be  raised  and  brought  to  the 
ground  within  the  time  when  the  provisions  in  the 
fort  would  be  exhausted.  In  a  purely  military  point 
of  view  this  reduced  the  duty  of  the  administration 
in  the  case  to  mere  matter  of  getting  the  garrison 
safely  out  of  the  fort. 

It  was  believed,  however,  that  to  so  abandon  that 
position,  under  the  circumstances,  would  be  utterly 
ruinous;  that  the  necessity  under  which  it  was  to  be 
done  would  not  be  fully  understood;  that  by  many 
it  would  be  construed  as  a  part  of  a  voluntary  policy; 
that  at  home  it  would  discourage  the  friends  of  the 
Union,  embolden  its  adversaries,  and  go  far  to  insure 
to  the  latter  a  recognition  abroad;  that  in  fact  it 
would  be  our  national  destruction  consummated. 
This  would  not  be  allowed.  Starvation  was  not  yet 
upon  the  garrison,  and  ere  it  would  be  reached  Fort 
Pickens  might  be  re-inforced. 


76  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'^ 

This  last  would  be  a  clear  indication  of  policy,  and 
would  better  enable  the  country  to  accept  the  evacu- 
ation of  Fort  Sumter  as  a  military  necessity.  An  order 
was  at  once  directed  to  be  sent  for  the  landing  of  the 
troops  from  the  steamship  Brooklyn  into  Fort  Pick- 
ens. This  order  could  not  go  by  land,  but  must  take 
the  longer  and  slower  route  by  sea.  The  first  return 
news  from  the  order  was  received  just  one  week  be- 
fore the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter.  The  news  itself  was 
that  the  officer  commanding  the  Sabine,  to  which 
vessel  the  troops  had  been  transferred  from  the  Brook- 
lyn, acting  upon  some  quasi  armistice  of  the  late  ad- 
ministration (and  of  the  existence  of  which  the 
present  administration,  up  to  the  time  the  order  was 
dispatched,  had  only  too  vague  and  uncertain  rumors 
to  fix  attention),  had  refused  to  land  the  troops.  To 
now  reinforce  Fort  Pickens,  before  a  crisis  would  be 
reached  at  Fort  Sumter,  was  impossible,  rendered  so 
by  the  near  exhaustion  of  provisions  in  the  latter 
named  fort.  In  precaution  against  sueb  a  conjuncture 
the  government  had,  a  few  days  before,  commenced 
preparing  an  expedition,  as  well  adapated  as  might 
be,  to  relieve  Fort  Sumter,  which  expedition  was  in- 
tended to  be  ultimately  used,  or  not.  according  to 
circumstances.  The  strongest  anticipated  case  for 
using  it  was  now  presented;  and  it  was  resolved  to 
send  it  forward.  As  had  been  intended  in  this  con- 
tingency, it  was  resolved  to  notify  the  governor  of 
South  Carolina  that  he  might  expect  an  attempt  would 
be  made  to  provision  the  fort ;  and  that  if  the  attempt 
should  not  be  resisted  there  would  be  no  effort  to  throw 
in  men,  arms,  or  ammunition,  without  further  notice, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  77 

or  in  case  of  an  attack  upon  the  fort.  This  notice 
was  accordingly  given;  whereupon  the  fort  was  at- 
tacked and  bombarded  to  its  fall,  without  even  await- 
ing the  arrival  of  the  provisioning  expedition. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  the  assault  upon  and  reduction 
of  Fort  Sumter  was,  m  no  sense,  a  matter  of  self-de- 
fense on  the  part  of  the  assailants. 

They  knew  well  that  the  garrison  in  the  fort  could, 
by  no  possibility,  commit  aggression  upon  them. 
They  knew — they  were  expressly  notified — that  the 
giving  of  bread  to  the  few  brave  and  hungry  men  of 
the  garrison  was  all  which  would  on  that  occasion  be 
attempted,  unless  themselves,  by  resisting  so  much, 
should  provoke  more.  They  knew  that  this  govern- 
ment desired  to  keep  the  garrison  in  the  fort,  not  to 
assail  them,  but  merely  to  maintain  in  visible  posses- 
sion, and  thus  to  preserve  the  Union  from  actual  and 
immediate  dissolution,  trusting,  as  hereinbefore  stated, 
to  time,  discussion,  and  the  ballot-box  for  final  adjust- 
ment; and  they  assailed  and  reduced  the  fort  for  pre- 
cisely the  reverse  object,  to  drive  out  the  visible 
authority  of  the  Federal  Union,  and  thus  force  it  to 
immediate  dissolution.  That  this  was  their  object 
the  Executive  well  understood;  and  having  said  to 
them,  in  the  inaugural  address,  "You  can  have  do 
conflict  without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors,"  lie 
took  pains  not  only  to  keep  this  declaration  good, 
but  also  to  keep  the  case  so  free  from  the  power  of 
ingenious  sophistry,  as  that  the  world  should  not  be 
able  to  misunderstand  it.  By  the  affair  at  Fort  Sum- 
ter, with  its  surrounding  circumstances,  that  point 
was  reached.     Then  and  there,  by  the  assailants  of  the 


78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

government,  began  the  conflict  of  arms,  without  a  gun 
in  sight  or  in  expectancy  to  return  their  fire,  save 
only  the  few  in  the  fort  sent  to  that  harbor  years  be- 
fore for  their  own  protection,  and  still  ready  to  give 
that  protection  in  whatever  was  lawful.  In  this  act, 
discarding  all  else,  they  have  forced  upon  the  coun- 
try, the  distinct  issue,  '"Immediate  dissolution  or 
blood." 

And  this  issue  embraces  more  that  the  fate  of  these 
United  States.  It  presents  to  the  whole  family  of 
man  the  question  whether  a  constitutional  republic  or 
democracy — a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  same 
people — can  or  can  not  maintain  its  territorial  integ- 
rity against  its  own  domestic  foes.  It  presents  the 
question  whether  discontented  individuals,  too  few  in 
numbers  to  control  administration  according  to  or- 
ganic law  in  any  case,  can  always,  upon  the  pretenses 
made  in  this  case,  or  on  any  other  pretenses,  or  arbi- 
trarily without  -any  pretense,  break  up  their  govern- 
ment, and  thus  practically  put  an  end  to  free  govern- 
ment upon  the  earth.  It  forces  us  to  ask,  u  Is  there,  in 
all  republics,  this  inherent  and  fatal  weakness?" 
"  Must  a  government  of  necessity  be  too  strong  for  the 
liberties  of  its  own  people,  or  too  weak  to  maintain  its 
own  existence?" 

So  viewing  the  issue,  no  choice  was  left  but  to  call 
out  the  war  power  of  the  government  ;  and  so  to  re- 
sist force,  employed  for  its  destruction,  by  force  for 
its  preservation. 

Ths  call  was  made,  and  the  response  of  the  country 
was  most  gratifying,  surpassing  in  unanimity  and 
spirit   the    most    sanguine  expectations.      Yet   none 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  79 

of  the  states  commonly  called  slave  states,  except 
Delaware,  gave  a  regiment  through  regular  state 
organization.  A  few  regiments  have  been  organized 
within  some  others  of  those  states  by  individual  en- 
terprise, and  received  into  the  government  service. 
Of  course,  the  seceded  states,  so  called  (and  to  which 
Texas  had  been  joined  about  the  time  of  the  inaugu- 
ration), gave  no  troops  to  the  cause  of  the  Union.  The 
Border  States,  so  called,  were  not  uniform  in  their 
action;  some  of  them  being  almost  for  the  Union, 
while  in  others — as  Virginia.  North  Carolina,  Tennes- 
see and  Arkansas — the  Union  sentiment  was  nearly 
repressed  and  silenced.  The  course  taken  in  Virginia 
was  the  most  remarkable,  perhaps  the  most  important. 
A  convention,  elected  by  the  people  of  that  state  to 
consider  this  very  question  of  disrupting  the  Federal 
Union,  was  in  session  at  the  Capital  of  Virginia  when 
Fort  Sumter  fell.  To  this  body  the  people  had  chosen 
a  large  majority  of  professed  Union  men. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  fall  of  Sumter,  many 
members  of  that  majority  went  over  to  the  original 
disunion  minority,  and,  with  them,  adopted  an  ordi- 
dance  for  withdrawing  the  state  from  the  Union. 
Whether  this  change  was  wrought  by  their  great 
approval  of  the  assault  upon  Sumter,  or  their  great 
resentment  at  the  government's  resistance  to  that 
assault,  is  not  definitely  known.  Although  they  sub- 
mitted the  ordinance,  for  ratification,  to  a  vote  of  the 
people,  to  be  taken  on  a  day  then  somewhat  more 
than  a  month  distant,  the  convention,  and  the  legis- 
lature (which  was  also  in  session  at  the  same  time  and 
place),  with  leading  men  of  the  state,  not  members  of 


80  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

either,  immediately  commenced  acting  as  if  the  state 
were  already  out  of  the  Union.  They  pushed  mili- 
tary preparations  vigorously  forward  all  over  the 
state.  They  seized  the  United  States  armory  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  the  navy-yard  at  Gosport,  near 
Norfolk,  They  received,  perhaps  invited,  into  their 
state  large  bodies  of  troops,  with  their  warlike  ap- 
pointments, from  the  so-called  seceded  states.  They 
formally  entered  into  a  treaty  of  temporary  alliance 
and  co-operation  with  the  so-called  -'Confederate 
states,"  and  sent  members  to  their  congress  at  Mont- 
gomery. And,  finally,  they  permitted"  the  insurrec- 
tionary government  to  be  transferred  to  their  capital 
at  Richmond. 

The  people  of  Virginia  have  thus  allowed  this 
giant  insurrection  to  make  its  nest  within  her  bor- 
ders; and  this  government  has  no  choice  left  but  to 
deal  with  it  where  it  finds  it.  And  it  has  the  less  re- 
gret, as  the  loyal  citizens  have,  in  due  form,  claimed 
its  protection.  Those  loyal  citizens  this  government 
is  bound  to  recognize  and   protect,  as  being  Virginia. 

In  the  Border  States,  so  called — in  fact,  the  Middle 
States — there  are  those  who  favor  a  policy  which  they 
call  "armed  neutrality ;"  that  is,  an  arming  of  those 
states  to  prevent  the  Union  forces  passing  one  way, 
or  the  disunion  the  other,  over  their  soil.  This  would 
be  disunion  completed.  Figuratively  speaking,  it 
would  be  the  building  of  an  impassable  wall  along 
the  line  of  separation;  and  yet  not  quite  an  impassa- 
ble one,  for  under  the  guise  of  neutrality,  it  would 
tie  the  hands  of  the  Union  men,  and  freely  pass,  sup- 
plies from  among  them  to  the  insurrectionists,  which 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  81 

it  could  not  do  as  an  open  enemy.  At  a  stroke,  it 
would  take  all  the  trouble  oft"  the  hands  of  secession, 
except  only  what  proceeds  from  the  external  block- 
ade. It  would  do  for  the  disunionists  that  which,  of 
all  things,  they  most  desire — feed  them  well,  and  give 
them  disunion  without  a  struggle  of  their  own.  It 
recognizes  no  fidelity  to  the  Constitution,  no  obliga- 
tion to  maintain  the  Union  ;  and  while  very  many 
who  have  favored  it  are  doubtless  loyal  citizens,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  very  injurious  in  effect. 

Recurring  to  the  action  of  the  government,  it  may 
be  stated  that,  at  first,  a  call  was  made  for  seventy- 
five  thousand  militia;  and  rapidly  following  this,  a 
proclamation  was  issued  for  closing  the  ports  of  the 
insurrectionary  districts  by  proceedings  in  the  nature 
of  blockade.  So  far,  all  was  believed  to  be  strictly 
legal.  At  this  point,  the  insurrectionsts  announced 
their  purpose  to  enter  upon  the  practice  of  priva- 
teering. 

Other  calls  were  made  for  volunteers  to  serve  three 
years,  unless  sooner  discharged,  and  also  for  large  ad- 
ditions to  the  regular  army  and  navy.  These  meas- 
ures, whether  strictly  legal  or  not,  were  ventured 
upon  under  what  appeared  to  be  a  popular  demand 
and  a  public  necessity;  trusting  then,  as  now,  that 
Congress  would  readily  ratify  them.  It  is  believed 
that  nothing  has  been  done  beyond  the  constitutional 
competency  of  Congress. 

Soon  after  the  first  call  for  militia,  it  was  consid- 
ered a  duty  to  authorize  the  commanding  general,  in 
proper  cases,  according  to  his  discretion,  to  suspend 
the    privilege    of  the  writ   of  habeas    corpus,  or,  in 


82  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

other  words,  to  arrest  and  detain,  without  resort  to 
the  ordinary  processes  and  forms  of  law,  such  indi- 
viduals as  he  might  deem  dangerous  to  the  public 
safety.  This  authority  has  purposely  been  exercised 
but  very  sparingly.  Nevertheless,  the  legality  and 
propriety  of  what  has  been  done  under  it  arc  ques- 
tioned, and  the  attention  of  the  country  has  been 
called  to  the  proposition  that  one  who  is  sworn  to 
"take  care"  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed 
should  not  himself  violate  them.  Of  course,  some 
consideration  was  given  to  the  questions  of  power 
and  propriety  before  this  matter  was  acted  upon. 
The  whole  of  the  laws  which  were  required  to  be 
faithfully  executed  were  being  resisted  and  failing  of 
execution  in  nearly  one-third  of  the  states.  Must 
they  be  allowed  to  finally  fail  of  execution,  even  had 
it  been  perfectly  clear,  that,  by  the  use  of  the  means 
necessary  to  their  execution,  some  single  law,  made 
in  such  extreme  tenderness  of  the  citizens'  liberty, 
that  practically  it  relieves  more  of  the  guilty  than 
of  the  innocent,  should  to  a  very  limited  extent  be 
violated  ? 

To  state  the  question  more  directly,  are  all  the 
laws  but  one  to  go  unexecuted,  and  the  government 
itself  go  to  pieces,  lest  that  one  be  violated  ?  Even 
in  such  a  case,  would  not  the  official  oath  be  broken, 
if  the  government  should  be  overthrown,  when  it  was 
believed  that  disregarding  the  single  law  would  tend 
to  preserve  it?  But  it  was  not  believed  that  this 
question  was  presented.  It  was  not  believed  that 
any  law  was  violated.  The  provision  of  the  Consti- 
tution   that    "  the    privilege    of    the   writ    of  habeas 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  83 

corpus  shall  not  be  suspended  unless  when,  in  eases 
of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require 
it,"  is  equivalent  to  a  provision,  is  a  provision,  that 
such  privilege  may  be  suspended  when,  in  cases  of  re- 
bellion or  invasion,  the  public  safety  does  require  it. 
It  was  decided  that  we  have  a  case  of  rebellion,  and 
that  the  public  safety  does  require  the  qualified  sus- 
pension of  the  privilege  of  the  writ  which  was  au- 
thorized to  be  made.  Now  it  is  insisted  that  Con- 
gress, and  not  the  executive,  is  vested  with  this 
power. 

But  the  Constitution  itself  is  silent  as  to  which  or 
who  is  to  exercise  the  power;  and  as  the  provision 
was  plainly  made  for  a  dangerous  emergency,  it  can 
not  be  believed  that  the  framers  of  the  instrument  in- 
tended that  in  every  case  the  danger  should  run  its 
course  until  Congress  could  be  called  together,  the 
very  assembling  of  which  might  be  prevented,  as  was 
intended  in  this  case,  by  the  rebellion. 

No  more  extended  argument  is  now  offered,  as  an 
opinion  at  some  length  will  probably  be  presented  by 
the  Attorney-General.  Whether  there  shall  be  any 
legislation  upon  the  subject,  and  if  any,  what,  is 
submitted  entirely  to  the  better  judgment  of  Con- 
gress. 

The  forbearance  of  this  government  has  been  so 
extraordinary  and  so  long  continued  as  to  lead  some 
foreign  nations  to  shape  their  action  as  if  they  sup- 
posed the  early  destruction  of  our  National  Union 
was  probable.  While  this,  on  discovery,  gave  the 
executive  some  concern,  he  is  now  happy  to  say  that 
the  sovereignty  and  rights  of  the  United  States  are 


84  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

now  every- where  practically  respected  by  foreign 
powers,  and  a  general  sympathy  with  the  country  is 
manifested  throughout  the  world. 

The  reports  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Treasury,  War 
and  the  Navy,  will  give  the  information  in  detail 
donned  necessary  and  convenient  for  your  delibera- 
tion and  action  ;  while  the  Executive,  and  all  the 
departments,  will  stand  ready  to  supply  omissions,  or 
to  communicate  new  facts  considered  important  for 
you  to  know. 

It  is  now  recommended  that  you  give  the  legal 
means  for  making  this  contest  a  short  and  a  decisive 
one  ;  that  you  place  at  the  control  of  the  government, 
for  the  work,  at  least  four  hundred  thousand  men  and 
four  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  That  number  of 
men  is  about  one-tenth  of  those  of  proper  ages  within 
the  regions  where,  apparently,  <///  are  willing  to  en- 
gage; and  the  sum  is  less  than  a  twenty-third  part 
of  the  money  value  owned  by  the  men  who  seem 
ready  to  devote  the  whole.  A  debt  of  six  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  now.  is  a  less  sum  per  head  than 
was  the  debt  of  our  Revolution  when  we  came  out  of 
that  struggle:  and  the  money  value  in  the  country 
now  bears  even  a  greater  proportion  to  what  it  was 
then,  than  does  the  population  Surely,  each  man  has 
as  strong  a  motive  now  to  preserve  our  liberties  as 
each  had  then  to  establish  them.  A  right  result,  at 
this  time,  will  be  worth  more  to  the  world  than  ten 
times  the  men  and  ten  times  the  money.  The  evi- 
dence reaching  us  from  the  country  leaves  no  doubt 
that  the  material  for  the  work  is  abundant  ;  and  that 
it  needs  only  the  hand  of  legislation  to  give  it  legal 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  85 

sanction,  and  the  hand  of  the  Executive  to  give  it 
practical  shape  and  efficiency. 

One  of  the  greatest  perplexities  of  the  government 
is  to  avoid  receiving  troops  taster  than  it  can  provide 
for  them.  In  a  word,  the  people  will  save  their  gov- 
ernment if  the  government  itself  will  do  its  part  only 
indifferently  well. 

It  might  seem,  at  first  thought,  to  he  of  little  dif- 
ference whether  the  present  movement  at  the  South 
be  called  "secession"  or  "rebellion."  The  movers, 
however,  well  understand  the  difference.  At  the  be- 
ginning, they  knew  they  could  never  raise  their 
treason  to  any  respectable  magnitude  by  any  name 
which  implies  violation  of  law.  They  knew  their 
people  possessed  as  much  of  moral  sense,  as  much  of 
devotion  to  law  and  order,  and  as  much  pride  in,  and 
reverenee  for  the  history  and  government  of  their 
common  country,  as  any  other  civilized  and  patriotic 
people.  They  knew  they  could  make  no  advance- 
ment directly  in  the  teeth  of  these  strong  and  noble 
sentiments.  Accordingly,  they  commenced  by  an  in- 
sidious debauching  of  the  public  mind.  They  invented 
an  ingenious  sophism,  which,  if  conceded,  was  fol- 
lowed by  perfectly  logical  steps,  through  all  the  inci- 
dents, to  the  complete  destruction  of  the  Union.  The 
sophism  itself  is,  that  any  state  of  the  Union  may,  con- 
sistently with  the  National  Constitution,  and  there- 
fore lawfully  and  peacefully  withdraw  from  the  Union 
without  the  consent  of  the  Union,  or  of  any  other 
state.  The  little  disguise  that  the  supposed  right  is 
to  be  exercised  onl}-  for  just  cause,  themselves  to  be  the 
sole  judges  of  its  justice,  is  too  thin  to  merit  any  notice. 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN* S 

With  rebellion  thus  sugar-coated,  they  have  been 
drugging  the  public  mind  of  their  section  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  until  at  length  they  have 
brought  many  good  men  to  a  willingness  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  government  the  day  after  some  as- 
semblage of  men  have  enacted  the  farcical  pretense  of 
taking  their  state  out  of  the  Union,  who  could  have 
been  brought  to  no  such  thing  the  day  before. 

This  sophism  derives  much,  perhaps  the  whole,  of 
its  current  from  the  assumption  that  there  is  some 
omnipotent  and  sacred  supremacy  pertaining  to  a 
state — to  each  sfate  of  our  Federal  Union.  Our 
states  have  neither  more  nor  less  power  than  thai 
reserved  to  them  in  the  Union  by  the  Constitution — 
no  one  of  them  ever  haviug  been  a  state  out  of  the 
Union.  The  original  ones  passed  into  the  Union 
even  before  they  cast  off  their  British  colonial  depend- 
ence; and  the  new  ones  each  came  into  the  Union 
directly  from  a  condition  of  dependence,  excepting 
Texas.  And  even  Texas,  in  its  temporary  indepen- 
dence, was  never  designated  a  state.  The  new  ones 
only  took  the  designation  of  stares  on  coming  into 
the  Union,  while  that  name  was  first  adopted  by  the 
old  ones  in  and  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Therein  the  "  United  Colonies '' were  declared  to  be 
'•free  and  independent  states ;  v  but.  even  then,  their 
object  plainly  was  not  to  declare  their  independence 
of  one  another,  or  of  the  Union,  but  directly  the  con- 
trary, as  their  mutual  pledge  and  their  mutual  action 
before,  at  the  time,  and  afterward,  abundantly  shows. 

The  express  plighting  of  faith  by  each  and  all  of 
the  original  thirteen  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 


PEX  AND  VOICE.  87 

two  years  later,  that  the  Union  shall  be  perpetual,  is 
most  conclusive. 

Having  never  been  states,  either  in  substance  or  in 
name,  outside  of  the  Union,  whence  this  magical  om- 
nipotence of  "  state  rights,"  asserting  a  claim  of  power 
to  lawfully  destroy  the  Union  itself?  Much  is  said 
about  the  "sovereignty"  of  the  states:  but  the  word 
even  is  not  in  the  National  Constitution  ;  nor,  as  is 
believed,  in  any  of  the  state  constitutions.  What  is 
a  "  sovereignty  "  in  the  political  sense  of  the  term? 
Would  it  be  far  wrong  to  detine  it  "  a  political  com- 
munity without  a  political  superior?" 

Tested  by  this,  no  one  of  our  states,  except  Texas, 
ever  was  a  sovereignty.  And  even  Texas  gave  up 
the  character  on  coming  into  the  Union;  by  which 
act  she  acknowledged  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  and  the  laws  and  treaties  of  the  United  States 
made  in  pursuance  of  the  Constitution,  to  be  for  her 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land.  The  states  have  their 
status  in  the  Union,  and  they  have  no  other  legal  sfatus. 
If  they  break  from  this,  they  can  only  do  so  against 
law  and  by  revolution.  The  Union,  and  not  them- 
selves, separately,  procured  their  independence  and 
their  liberty.  By  conquest  or  purchase  the  Union 
gave  each  of  them  whatever  of  independence  or  lib- 
erty it  has.  The  Union  is  older  than  any  of  the 
states,  and,  in  fact,  it  created  them  as  states.  Origi- 
nally, some  dependent  colonies  made  the  Union,  and, 
in  turn,  the  Union  threw  off  their  old  dependence  for 
them,  and  made  them  states,  such  as  they  are. 

Xot  one  of  them  ever  had  a  state  constitution  inde- 
pendent of  the  Union.     Of  course,  it  is  not  forgotten 


88  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

that  all  the  new  states  framed  their  constitutions  before 
they  entered  the  Union — nevertheless  dependent  upon 
and  preparatory  to  coming  into  the  Union.  Unques- 
tionably the  states  have  the  powers  and  rights  re- 
served to  them  in  and  by  the  National  Constitution; 
but  among-  them,  surely,  are  not  included  all  conceiv- 
able powers,  however  mischievous  or  destructive; 
but.  at  most,  such  only  as  were  known  in  the  world, 
at  the  time,  as  governmental  powers  ;  and,  certainly,  a 
poAver  to  destroy  the  government  itself  had  never 
been  known  as  a  governmental — as  a  merely  adminis- 
trative power.  This  relative  matter  of  national  power 
and  state  rights,  as  a  principle,  is  no  other  than  the 
principle  of-generality  and  locality.  Whatever  con- 
cerns the  whole  should  he  confided  to  the  whole — to 
the  general  government ;  while  whatever  concerns 
only  the  state  should  be  left  exclusively  to  the  state. 
This  is  all  there  is  of  original  principle  about  it. 
Whether  the  National  Constitution  in  defining  boun- 
daries hetween  the  two  has  applied  the  principle  with 
exact  accuracy,  is  not  to  be  questioned.  We  are  all 
bound  by  that  defining,  without  question. 

What  is  now  combated,  is  the  position  that  seces- 
sion is  consistent  with  the  Constitution — is  lawful  and 
peaceful.  It  is  not  contended  that  there  is  any  ex- 
press law  for  it,  and  nothing  should  ever  be  implied 
as  law  which  leads  to  unjust  or  absurd  consequences. 
The  nation  purchased  with  money  the  countries  out 
of  which  several  of  these  states  were  formed:  is  it 
just  that  they  shall  go  off  without  leave  and  without 
refunding?  The  nation  paid  very  large  sums  (in  the 
aggregate,  I  believe,  nearly  a  hundred  millions)  to 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  89 

relieve  Florida  of  the  aboriginal  tribes;  is  it  just  that 
she  shall  now  be  off  without  consent,  or  without 
making  any  return?  The  nation  is  now  in  debt  for 
money  applied  to  the  benetit  of  these  so-called  se- 
ceding states  in  common  with  the  rest ;  is  it  just  either 
that  creditors  shall  go  unpaid,  or  the  remaining  states 
pay  the  whole?  A  part  of  the  present  national  debt 
was  contracted  to  pay  the  old  debts  of  Texas  ;  is  it  just 
that  she  shall  leave  and  pay  no  part  of  this  herself? 

Again,  if  one  state  may  secede,  so  may  another  ; 
and  when  all  shall  have  seceded,  none  is  left  to  pan- 
tile debts.  Is  this  quite  just  to  creditors?  Did  we 
notify  them  of  this  sage  view  of  ours  when  we  bor- 
rowed their  money?  If  we  now  recognize  this  doc- 
trine by  allowing  the  seceders  to  go  in  peace,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  what  we  can  do  if  others  choose  to  go, 
or  to  extort  terms  upon  which  they  will  promise  to 
remain. 

The  seceders  insist  that  our  Constitution  admits  of 
secession.  They  have  assumed  to  make  a  national 
constitution  of  their  own,  in  which,  of  necessity,  they 
have  either  discarded  or  retained  the  right  ofseces- 
sion,  as  they  insist  it  exists  in  ours.  If  they  have 
discarded  it,  they  thereby  admit  that  on  principle  it 
ought  not  to  exist  in  ours  ;  if  they  have  retained  it,  by 
their  own  construction  of  ours  they  show  that,  to  be 
consistent,  they  must  secede  from  one  another  when- 
ever they  shall  find  it  the  easiest  way  of  settling  their 
debts,  or  effecting  any  other  selfish  or  unjust  object. 
The  principle  itself  is  one  of  disintegration,  and  upon 
which  no  government  can  possibly  endure. 

If  all  the  states  save  one  should  assert  the  power  to 
8 


90  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

drive  that  one  out  of  the  Union,  it  is  presumed  the 
whole  class  of  seceder  politicians  would  at  once  deny 
the  power,  and  denounce  the  act  as  the  greatest  out- 
rage upon  state  rights.  But  suppose  that  precisely 
the  same  act,  instead  of  being  called  "driving  the  one 
out,"  should  be  called  "  the  seceding  of  the  others  from 
that  one,"  it  would  he  exactly  what  the  seceders  claim 
to  do,  unless,  indeed,  they  make  the  point  that  the 
one,  because  it  is  a  minority,  may  rightfully  do  what 
the  others,  because  they  are  a  majority,  may  not  right- 
fully do.  These  politician  are  subtle,  and  profound 
on  the  rights  of  minorities.  They  are  not  partial  to 
that  power  which  made  the  Constitution,  and  speaks 
from  the  preamble,  calling  itself'-  We,  the  people." 

It  may  well  be  questioned  whether  there  is  to-day 
a  majority  of  the  legally  qualified  voters  of  any  state, 
except  perhaps  South  Carolina,  in  favor  of  disunion. 
There  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  Union  men 
are  the  majority  in  many,  if  not  in  every  other  one, 
of  the  so-called  seceded  states.  The  contrary  has  not 
been  demonstrated  in  any  one  of  them.  It  is  ventured 
to  affirm  this,  even  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee;  for 
the  results  of  an  election,  held  in  military  camps, 
where  the  bayonets  are  all  on  one  side  of  the  question 
voted  upon,  can  scarcely  be  considered  as  demon- 
strating popular  sentiment.  At  such  an  election,  all 
the  large  class  who  arc,  at  once,  for  the  Union,  and 
against  coercion,  would  be  coerced  to  vote  against 
the  Union. 

It  may  be  affirmed,  without  extravagance,  that  the 
free  institutions  we  enjoy  have  developed  the  powers 
and  improved  the  condition  of  our  whole  people  be- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  91 

yond  any  example  in  the  world.  Of  this  we  now  have 
a  striking  and  an  impressive  illustration.  So  large  an 
army  as  the  government  has  now  on  foot  was  never 
before  known,  without  a  soldier  in  it  but  who  had 
taken  his  place  there  of  his  own  free  choice.  But 
more  than  this;  there  are  many  single  regiments 
whose  members,  one  and  another,  possess  full  practical 
knowledge  of  all  the  arts,  sciences,  professions,  and 
whatever  else,  whether  useful  or  elegant,  is  known  in 
the  world  ;  and  there  is  scarcely  one  from  which  there 
could  not  be  selected  a  president,  ac  abinet,  a  con- 
gress, and  perhaps  a  court,  abundantly  competent  to 
administer  the  government  itself.  Nor  do  I  say  that 
this  is  not  true  also  in  the  army  of  our  late  friends, 
now  adversaries,  in  this  contest ;  but  if  it  is  so,  so  much 
better  the  reason  why  the  government,  which  has  con- 
ferred such  benefits  on  both  them  and  us,  should  not 
be  broken  up.  Whoever,  in  any  section,  proposes  to 
abandon  such  a  government  would  do  well  to  con- 
sider in  deference  to  what  principle  it  is  that  he  docs 
it,  what  better  he  is  likely  to  get  in  its  stead,  whether 
the  substitute  will  give  or  be  intended  to  give  so  much 
of  good  to  the  people.  There  are  some  fpre-shadow- 
ings  on  this  subject. 

Our  adversaries  have  adopted  some  declaration  of 
independence,  in  which,  unlike  the  good  old  one 
penned  by  Jefferson,  they  omit  the  words  "  all  men 
are  created  equal."  Why?  They  have  adopted  a 
temporary  national  constitution,  in  the  preamble  of 
which,  unlike  our  good  old  one  signed  by  Washing- 
ton, they  omit  tk  We,  the  people,"  and  substitute  "We, 
the  deputies  of  the  sovereign  and  independent  states.'' 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

Why?  Why  this  deliberate  pressing  out  of  view  the 
rights  of  men  and  the  authority  of  the  people?  This 
is  essentially  a  people's  contest.  On  the  side  of  the 
Union  it  is  a  struggle  for  maintaining  in  the  world 
that  form  and  substance  of  government  whose  lead- 
ing object  is  to  elevate  the  condition  of  men,  to  lift 
artificial  weights  from  all  shoulders,  to  clear  the  paths 
of  laudable  pursuit  for  all,  to  afford  all  an  unfettered 
start  and  a  fair  chance  in  the  race  of  life. 

Yielding  to  partial  and  temporary  departures  from 
necessity,  this  is  the  leading  objeet  of  the  government 
for  whose  existence  we  contend. 

I  am  most  happy  to  believe  that  the  plain  people 
understand  and  appreciate  this.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that,  while  in  this,  the  government's  hour  of  trial, 
large  numbers  of  those  in  the  army  and  navy  who 
have  been  favored  with  the  offices  have  resigned, 
and  proved  false  to  the  hand  which  had  pampered 
them,  not  one  common  soldier  or  common  sailor  is 
known  to  have  deserted  his  flag:. 

Great  honor  is  due  to  those  officers  who  remained 
true,  despite  the  example  of  their  treacherous  associ- 
ates ;  but  tlje  greatest  honor  and  most  important  fact 
of  all  is  the  unanimous  firmness  of  the  common  sol- 
diers and  common  sailors.  To  the  last  man,  so  far  as 
known,  they  have  successfully  resisted  the  traitorous 
efforts  of  those  whose  commands  but  an  hour  before 
they  obeyed  as  absolute  law.  This  is  the  patriotic  in- 
stinct of  plain  people.  They  understand,  without  an 
argument,  that  the  destroying  the  government  which 
was  made  by  Washington  means  no  good  to  them. 
Our  popular  government  has  often  been  called  an  ex- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  93 

periment.  Two  points  in  it  our  people  have  already 
settled — the  successful  establishing,  and  the  successful 
administering  of  it.  One  still  remains — its  successful 
maintenance  against  a  formidable  internal  attempt  to 
overthrow  it.  It  is  now  for  them  to  demonstrate  to 
the  world  that  those  who  can  fairly  carry  an  election 
can  also  suppress  a  rebellion.;  that  ballots  are  the 
rightful  and  peaceful  sueeessors  of  bullets ;  and  that 
when  ballots  have  fairly  and  constitutionally  decided, 
there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  back  to  bullets;  that 
there  can  be  no  successful  appeal  except  to  ballots 
themselves  at  succeeding  elections.  Such  will  be  a 
great  lesson  of  peace,  teaching  men  that  what  they 
can  not  take  by  an  election,  neither  can  they  take  it 
by  a  war;  teaching  all  the  folly  of  being  beginners  of 
a  war. 

Lest  there  be  some  uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  can- 
did men  as  to  what  is  to  be  the  course  of  the  govern- 
ment toward  the  Southern  states  after  the  rebellion 
shall  have  been  suppressed,  the  Executive  deems  it 
proper  to  say,  it  will  be  his  purpose  then,  as  ever,  to 
be  guided  by  the  constitution  and  the  laws;  and  that 
he  will  probably  have  no  different  understanding  of 
the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Federal  government  re- 
latively to  the  rights  of  the  states  and  the  people,  un- 
der the  Constitution,  than  that  expressed  in  the  in- 
augural address. 

He  desires  to  preserve  the  government,  that  it  may 
be  administered  for  all.  as  it  was  administered  by  the 
men  who  made  it. 

Loyal  citizens  everywhere  have  the  right  to  claim 
this  of  their  government,  and  the  government  has  no 


94  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

right  to  withhold  or  neglect  it.  It  is  not  perceived 
that,  in  giving  it,  there  is  any  coercion,  any  conquest, 
or  any  subjugation,  in  any  just  sense  of  those  terms. 

The  constitution  provides,  and  all  the  states  have 
accepted  the  provision,  that  "the  United  States  shall 
guarantee  to  every  state  in  this  Union  a  republican 
form  of  government/'  But,  if  a  state  may  lawfully 
go  out  of  the  Union,  having  done  so,  it  may  also  dis- 
card the  republican  form  of  government ;  so  that  to 
prevent  its  going  out  is  an  indispensable  means  to  the 
end  of  maintaining  the  guarantee  mentioned;  and 
when  an  end  is  lawful  and  obligatory,  the  indispens- 
able means  to  it  are  also  lawful  and  obligatory.  It 
was  with  the  deepest  regret  that  the  Executive  found 
the  duty  of  employing  the  war  power  in  defense  of 
the  government  forced  upon  him.  He  could  but  per- 
form this  duty  or  surrender  the  existence  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Xo  compromise  by  public  servants  could  in  this  case 
be  a  cure;  not  that  compromises  are  not  often  proper, 
bat  that  no  popular  government  can  long  survive  a 
marked  precedent,  that  those  who  carry  an  election 
can  only  save  the  government  from  immediate  de- 
struction by  giving  up  the  main  point  upon  which  the 
people  gave  the  election.  The  people  themselves,  and 
not  their  servants,  can  safely  reverse  their  own  delib- 
erate  decisions. 

As  a  private  citizen,  the  Executive  could  not  have 
consented  that  these  institutions  shall  perish;  much 
less  could  he  in  betrayal  of  so  vast  and  so  sacred  a 
trust  as  these  free  people  had  confided  to  him.  He 
felt  that  he  had  no  moral  right  to  shrink,  nor  even  to 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  9 


R 


count  the  chances  of  his  own  life,  in  what  might  fol- 
low. In  full  view  of  his  great  responsibility  he  has 
so  far,  done  what  he  has  deemed  his  duty.  You  will 
now,  according  to  your  own  judgment,  perform  yours. 
He  sincerely  hopes  that  your  views,  and  your  action, 
may  s<»  accord  with  his  as  to  assure  all  faithful  citi- 
zens who  have  been  disturbed  in  their  rights,  of  a 
certain  and  speedy  restoration  to  them  under  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws.  And  having  thus  chosen 
our  course,  without  guile  and  with  pure  purpose,  let 
us  renew  our  trust  in  God,  and  go  forward  without 
fear  and  with  manly  hearts.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

July  4,  1801. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  Memorandum  of  Military  Programme. 

July  23,  1801. 

1.  Let  the  plan  for  making  the  blockade  effective 
be  pushed  forward  with  all  possible  dispatch. 

2.  Let  the  volunteer  forces  at  Fort  Monroe  and 
vicinity,  under  General  Butler,  be  constantly  drilled, 
disciplined,  and  instructed  without  more  for  the 
present. 

3.  Let  Baltimore  be  held  as  now,  with  a  gentle 
but  firm  and  certain  hand. 

4.  Let  the  force  now  under  Patterson  or  Banks  be 
strengthened  and  made  secure  in  its  position. 

5.  Let  the  forces  in  western  Virginia  act  till  further 
orders  according  to  instructions  or  orders  from  Gene- 
ral McClellan. 

6.  General  Fremont  push  forward  his  organization 
and  operations  in  the  West  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
giving  rather  special  attention  to  Missouri. 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  S 

7.  Let  the  forces  late  before  Manassas,  except  the 
three  months'  men,  he  organized  as  rapidly  as  possible 
in  their  camps,  here  and  about  Arlington. 

8.  Let  the  three  months'  forces  who  decline  to  enter 
the  longer  service  be  discharged  as  rapidly  as  circum- 
stances will  permit. 

9.  Let  the  new  volunteer  forces  be  brought  forward 
as  fast  as  possible  ;  and  especially  into  the  camps  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  river  here. 

July  27,  1861. 

When  the  foregoing  shall  have  been  substantially 
attended  to — 

1.  Let  Manassas  Junction  (or  some  point  on  one  or 
the  other  of  the  railroads  nearest  it)  and  Strasburg  be 
seized,  and  permanently  held,  with  an  open  line  from 
Washington  to  Manassas,  and  an  open  line  from  Har- 
per's Ferry  to  Strasburg,  the  military  men  to  find  the 
way  of  doing  these. 

2.  This  done,  a  joint  movement  from  Cairo  on 
Memphis,  and  from  Cincinnati  on  east  Tennessee. 

War  Department,  Washington,  Aug.  15,  1861. 

Major- General  Fremont,  St.  Louis: — Been  answering 
your  messages  ever  since  day  before  yesterday.  Do 
you  receive  the  answers  ?  The  \Var  Department  has 
notified  all  the  governors  you  designated  to  forward 
all  available  force,  and  so  telegraphed  you.  Have  you 
received  these  messages?     Answer  immediately. 

A.  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  97 

Honorable  Secretary  of  War. 

Executive  Mansion,  August  17,  1861. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Unless  there  be  reason  to  the  contra- 
ry, not  known  to  me,  make  out  a  commission  for  Simon 
(B.)  Buckner,  of  Kentucky,  as  a  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  It  is  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  General 
Anderson,  and  delivered  to  General  Bnckner  or  not, 
at  the  discretion  of  General  Anderson.  Of  course  it 
is  to  remain  a  secret  unless  and  until  the  commission 
is  delivered.  Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  His  Excellency,  B.  Magoffin,  Governor  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

Washington,  D.  C,  August  24,  1861. 

Sir: — Your  letter  of  the  19th  inst.,  in  which  you 
urge  the  removal  from  the  limits  of  Kentucky  of  the 
military  force  now  organized  and  in  camp  within  that 
state,  is  received.  I  may  not  possess  full  and  precisely 
accurate  knowledge  upon  the  subject,  but  I  believe  it 
is  true  that  there  is  a  military  force  in  camp  within 
Kentucky,  acting  by  authority  of  the  United  States, 
which  force  is  not  very  large,  and  is  not  now  being 
augmented. 

I  also  believe  that  some  arms  have  been  furnished 
to  this  force  by  the  United  States. 

I  also  believe  this  force  consists  exclusively  of  Ken- 
tuckians,  having  their  camp  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  their  homes,  and  not  assailing  or  menacing  any  of 
the  good  people  of  Kentucky.  In  all  I  have  done  in 
the  premises,  I  have  acted  upon  the  urgent  solicitation 
of  many  Kentuckians,  and  in  accordance  with  all  the 
Union-loving  people  of  Kentucky. 
9 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

While  I  have  conversed  on  this  subject  with  main 
of  the  eminent  men  of  Kentucky,  including  a  large 
majority  of  her  members  of  Congress,  I  do  not  re- 
member that  any  one  of  them,  or  any  other  person 
except  your  excellency  and  the  hearers  of  your  excel- 
lency's letter,  has  urged  me  to  move  the  military  force 
from  Kentucky,  or  to  disband  it.  One  very  worthy 
citizen  of  Kentucky  did  solicit  me  to  have  the  auo-- 
menting  of  the  force  suspended  for  a  time. 

Taking  all  the  means  within  my  reach  to  form  a 
judgment,  I  do  not  believe  it  is  the  popular  wish  of 
Kentucky  that  this  force  shall  he  removed  bevond 
her  limits;  and,  with  this  impression  I  must  respect- 
fully decline  to  remove  it. 

I  most  cordially  sympathize  with  vour  Excellency  in 
the  wish  to  preserve  the  peace  of  my  own  native  State 
of  Kentucky.  It  is  with  regret  I  search  for,  and  can 
not  find,  in  your  not  very  short  letter,  any  declaration 
or  intimation  that  you  entertain  any  desire  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Federal  Union. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

Private  Letter  to  Maj.-Gen.  Fremont,  Sept.  2,  1861. 

Two  points  in  your  proclamation  of  August  30th, 
give  me  some  anxiety.  First. — Should  you  shoot  a 
man,  according  to  the  proclamation,  the  Confederates 
would  very  certainly  shoot  our  best  men  in  their 
hands,  in  retaliation;  and  so,  man  for  man,  indefi- 
nitely. It  is,  therefore,  my  order  that  you  allow  no 
man  to  be  shot,  under  the  proclamation,  without  first 
having  my  approbation  and  consent. 

Second. — I  think  there  is  a  great  danger  that  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  99 

closing  paragraph  in  relation  to  the  confiscation  of 
property/,  and  the  liberating  slaves  of  traitorous  own- 
ers, will  alarm  our  Southern  Union  friends,  and  turn 
them  against  us — perhaps  ruin  our  rather  fair  pros- 
pect for  Kentucky.  Allow  me,  therefore,  to  ask  that 
you  will,  as  of  your  own  motion,  modify  that  para- 
graph so  as  to  conform  to  the  first  and  fourth  sections 
of  the  Act  of  Congress  entitled,  "An  Act  to  Confis- 
cate Property  used  for  Insurrectionary  Purposes," 
approved  August  6,  1861,  and  a  copy  of  which  act  I 
herewith  send  you.  This  letter  is  written  in  a  spirit 
of  caution,  and  not  of  censure.  I  send  it  by  special 
messenger  in  order  that  it  may  certainly  and  speedily 
reach  you.  Yours  very  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Mrs.  General  Fremont. 

Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.  12,  1861. 
31  y  Dear  Madam  : — Your  two  notes  of  to-day  are 
before  me.  I  answered  the  letter  you  bore  me  from 
General  Fremont,  on  yesterday,  and  not  hearing  from 
you  during  the  day,!  sent  the  answer  to  him  by  mail. 
It  is  not  exactly  correct,  as  you  say  you  were  told  by 
the  elder  Mr.  Blair,  to  say  that  I  had  sent  Postmas- 
ter-General Blair  to  St.  Louis  to  examine- into  the 
department  and  report.  Postmaster-General  Blair 
did  go  with  my  approbation,  to  see  and  converse 
with  General  Fremont  as  a  friend!  I  do  not  feel  au- 
thorized to  furnish  you  with  copies  of  letters  in  my 
possession  without  the  consent  of  the  writers.  No 
impression  has  been  made  upon  my  mind  against  the 
honor  or  integrity  of  General  Fremont,  and  I  now 


100  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

enter  my  protest  against   being  understood  as  acting 
in  any  hostility  toward  him. 

Your  obedient  servant,      A.  Lincoln. 

Hon.  Secretary  of  \Var. 

Executive  Mansion,  September  18, 1861. 

M>i  Dear  Sir: — To  guard  against  misunderstand- 
ing, I  think  fit  to  say  that  the  joint  expedition  of  the 
army  and  navy,  agreed  upon  some  time  since,  and  in 
which  General  W.  T.  Sherman  was  and  is  to  bear  a 
conspicuous  part,  is  in  nowise  to  be  abandoned,  but 
must  be  ready  to  move  by  the  first  of,  or  very  early  in 
October.  Let  all  preparations  go  forward  accord- 
ingly. Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Major-General  Fremont. 

Washington,  September  22,  1861. 

Governor  Morton  telegraphs  as  follows:  Colonel 
Lane,  just  arrived  by  special  tram,  represents  Owens- 
borough,  forty  miles  above  Evansville,  in  possession 
of  secessionists.  Green  river  is  navig-able.  Owens- 
borough  must  be  seized.  We  want  a  gun-boat  sent 
up  from  Paducah  for  that  purpose.  Send  up  the  gun- 
boat if,  in  your  discretion,  you  think  it  right.  Per- 
haps  you  had  better  order  those  in  charge  of  the  Ohio 
river,  to  guard  it  vigilantly  at  all  points. 

A.  Lincoln. 
Hon.  O.  H.  Browning. 

Exeeutire  Mansion.  Washington,  Sept.  22,  1861. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  seventeenth  is  just  re- 
ceived ;  and  coming  from  you,  I  confess  it  astonishes 
me.     That  you  should  object  to  my  adhering  to  a  law, 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  101 

which  you  had  assisted  in  making,  and  presenting  to 
me,  less  than  a  month  before,  is  odd  enough.  But 
this  is  a  very  small  part.  General  Fremont's  procla- 
mation, as  to  confiscation  of  property,  and  the  libera- 
tion of  slaves,  is  purely  political,  and  not  within  the 
range  of  military  law  or  necessity.  If  a  commanding 
general  finds  a  necessity  to  seize  the  farm  of  a  private 
owner,  for  a  pasture,  an  encampment,  or  a  fortification, 
he  has  the  right  to  do  so,  and  to  so  hold  it,  as  long  as 
the  necessity  lasts;  and  this  is  within  military  law, 
because  within  military  necessity.  But  to  say  the 
farm  shall  no  longer  belong  to  the  owner,  or  his  heirs 
forever,  and  this,  as  well  when  the  farm  is  not  needed 
for  military  purposes  as  when  it  is,  is  purely  political, 
without  the  savor  of  military  law  about  it.  And  the 
same  is  true  of  slaves.  If  the  general  needs  them,  he 
can  seize  them  and  use  them,  but  when  the  need  is 
past,  it  is  not  for  him  to  fix  their  permanent  future 
condition.  That  must  be  settled  according  to  laws 
made  by  law-makers,  and  not  by  military  proclama- 
tions. The  proclamation  in  the  point  in  question  is 
simply  "  dictatorship."  It  assumes  that  the  general 
may  do  any  thing  he  pleases — confiscate  the  lands  and 
free  the  slaves  of  loyal  people,  as  well  as  disloyal 
ones. 

And  going  the  whole  figure,  I  have  no  doubt, 
would  be  more  popular,  with  some  thoughtless  peo- 
ple, than  that  which  has  been  done.  But  I  can  not 
assume  this  reckless  position,  nor  allow  others  to  as- 
sume it  on  my  responsibility. 

You  speak  of  it  as  being  the  only  means  of  saving 
the  government.     On  the  contrary,  it  is  itself  the  snr- 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN^ 

render  of  the  government.  Can  it  be  pretended  that 
it  is  any  longer  the  government  of  the  United  States 
— any  government  of  Constitution  and  laws — wherein 
a  general  or  a  president  may  make  permanent  rules 
of  property  by  proclamation. 

I  do  not  say  Congress  might  not,  with  propriety, 
pass  a  law  on  the  point,  just  such  as  General  Fremont 
proclaimed.  I  do  not  say  I  might  not,  as  a  member 
of  Congress,  vote  for  it.  What  I  object  to  is,  that  I, 
as  President,  shall  expressly  and  impliedly  seize  and 
exercise  the  permanent  legislative  functions  of  the 
government. 

So  much  as  to  principle.  Now  as  to  policy.  No 
doubt  the  thing  was  popular  in  some  quarters,  and 
would  have  been  more  so  if  it  had  been  a  general 
declaration  of  emancipation.  The  Kentucky  legisla- 
ture would  not  budge  till  that  proclamation  was  modi- 
fied ;  and  General  Anderson  telegraphed  me  that  on 
the  news  of  General  Fremont  having  actually  issued 
deeds  of  manumission,  a  whole  company  of  our  vol- 
unteers threw  down  their  arms  and  disbanded.  I 
was  so  assured  as  to  think  it  probable  that  the  very 
arms  we  had  furnished  Kentucky  would  be  turned 
against  us. 

I  think  to  lose  Kentucky  is  nearly  the  same  as  to 
lose  the  whole  game.  Kentucky  gone,  we  can  not 
hold  Missouri,  nor,  as  I  think,  Maryland.  These  all 
against  us,  and  the  job  on  our  hands  is  too  large  for 
us.  We  would  as  well  consent  to  separation  at  once, 
including  the  surrender  of  this  capital.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  you  will  give  up  your  restlessness  for  new 
positions,  and  back  me  manfully  on  the  grounds  upon 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  103 

which  you  and  other  kind  friends  gave  me  the  elec- 
tion, and  have  approved  in  my  public  documents,  we 
shall  go  through  triumphantly. 

You  must  not  understand  I  took  my  course  on  the 
proclamation  because  of  Kentucky.  I  took  the  same 
ground  in  a  private  letter  to  General  Fremont  before 
I  heard  from  Kentucky. 

You  think  I  am  inconsistent  because  I  did  not  also 
forbid  General  Fremont  to  shoot  men  under  the  procla- 
mation. I  understand  that  part  to  be  within  military 
law,  but  I  also  think,  and  so  privately  wrote  General 
Fremont,  that  it  is  impolitic  in  this,  that  our  adver- 
saries have  the  power,  and  will  certainly  exercise  it, 
to  shoot  as  many  of  our  men  as  we  shoot  of  theirs. 
I  did  not  say  this  in  the  public  letter,  because  it  is  a 
subject  I  prefer  not  to  discuss  in  the  hearing  of  our 
enemies. 

There  has  been  no  thought  of  removing  General 
Fremont  on  any  ground  connected  with  his  procla- 
mation ;  and  if  there  has  been  any  wish  for  his  re- 
moval on  any  ground,  our  mutual  friend,  Sam  Glover, 
can  probably  tell  you  what  it  was.  I  hope  no  real 
necessity  for  it  exists  on  any  ground.  Your  friend, 
as  ever,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  the  Commander  of  the  Department  op  the  West. 
Washington,  D.  C,  Oetoher  24,  1861. 
Sir: — The  command  of  the  Department  of  the 
West  having  devolved  upon  you,  I  propose  to  offer 
you  a  few  suggestions.  Knowing  how  hazardous  it 
is  to  bind  down  a  distant  commander  in  the  field  to 
specific  lines  and  operations,  as  so  much  always  de- 


104  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

pends  upon  a  knowledge  of  localities  and  passing 
events,  it  is  intended,  therefore,  to  leave  a  considerable 
margin  for  the  exercise  of  your  judgment  and 
discretion. 

The  main  rebel  army  (Price's)  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi is  believed  to  have  passed  Dade  county  in  full 
retreat  upon  North-western  Arkansas,  leaving  Missouri 
almost  freed  from  the  enemy,  excepting  in  the  south- 
east of  the  state.  Assuming  this  basis  of  fact,  it  seems 
desirable,  as  you  are  not  likely  to  overtake  Price, 
and  are  in  danger  of  making  too  long  a  line  from 
your  base  of  supplies  and  re-inforeements,  that  you 
should  give  up  the  pursuit,  halt  your  main  army, 
divide  it  into  two  corps  of  observation,  one  occupying 
Sedalia  and  the  other  Rolla,  the  present  termini  of 
railroad;  then  recruit  the  condition  of  both  corps  by 
re-establishing  and  improving  their  discipline  and  in- 
structions, perfecting  their  clothing  and  equipments, 
and  providing  less  uncomfortable  quarters. 

Of  course,  both  railroads  must  be  guarded  and  kept 
open,  judiciously  employing  just  so  much  force  as  is 
necessary  for  this.  From  these  two  points,  Sedalia 
and  Rolla,  and  especially  in  judicious  co-operation 
with  Lane  on  the  Kansas  border,  it  would  be  so  easy 
to  concentrate  and  repel  any  army  of  the  enemy  re- 
turning on  Missouri,  from  the  south-west,  that  it  is  not 
probable  any  such  attempt  to  return  will  be  made 
before  or  during  the  approaching  cold  weather.  Be- 
fore spring  the  people  of  Missouri  will  probably  be  in 
no  favorable  mood  to  renew  for  the  next  year  the 
troubles  which  have  so  much  afflicted  and  lm- 
proverished  them  during  this. 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  10.") 

If  you  adopt  this  line  of  policy,  and  if,  as  I  antici- 
pate, you  will  see  no  enemy  in  great  force  approaching, 
you  will  have  a  surplus  of  force,  which  you  can  with- 
draw from  these  points  and  direct  to  others,  as  may 
he  needed,  the  railroads  furnishing  ready  means  of 
re-inforcing  their  main  points  if  necessity  requires. 
Doubtless  local  uprisings  will  for  a  time  continue  to 
occur,  but  these  can  he  met  by  detachments  and  local 
forces  of  our  own,  and  will  ere  long  tire  out  of  them 
selves. 

While,  as  stated  in  the  beginning  of  the  letter,  a 
large  discretion  must  be  and  is  left  to  yourself,  I  feel 
sure  that  an  indefinite  pursuit  of  Price,  or  any  attempt 
by  this  long  and  circuitous  route  to  reach  Memphis, 
will  be  exhaustive  beyond  endurance,  and  will  end  in 
the  loss  of  the  whole  force  engaged  in  it. 

Your  obedient  servant,     A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  of  the  President  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Resignation  of  Gen.  Scott. 
On  the  first  day  of  November,  a.  d.  1861,  upon  his 
own  application  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
Brevet  Lieutenant-Gen.  Winfield  Scott  is  ordered  to 
be  placed,  and  hereby  is  placed,  upon  the  list  of  retired 
officers  of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  without  re- 
duction in  his  current  pay,  subsistence  or  allowances. 
The  American  people  will  hear  with  sadness  and  deep 
emotion  that  Gen.  Scott  has  withdrawn  from  the 
active  control  of  the  army,  while  the  President  and 
the  unanimous  cabinet  express  their  own  and  the 
nation's  sympathy  in  his  personal  affliction,  and  their 
profound  sense  of  the  important  public  services  ren- 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

dered  by  him  to  his  country  during  his  long  and 
brilliant  career,  among  which  will  ever  be  gratefully 
distinguished  his  faithful  devotion  to  the  Constitution, 
the  Union,  and  the  flag,  when  assailed  by  parricidal 
rebellion.  A.  Lincoln. 

Upon  presenting  the  foregoing  letter  the  President 
added : — 

General ;— You  will  naturally  feel  solicitude  about 
the  gentlemen  of  your  staff,  who  have  rendered  you 
and  their  country  such  faithful  service.  I  have  taken 
that  subject  into  consideration.  I  understand  that 
they  go  with  you  to  New  York.  I  shall  desire  them 
at  their  earliest  convenience,  after  their  return,  to 
make  their  wishes  known  to  me.  I  desire  you  now, 
however,  to  be  satisfied  that,  except  the  unavoidable 
privation  of  your  counsel,  and  society,  which  they 
have  so  long  enjoyed,  the  provision  which  will  be 
made  for  them  will  be  such  as  to  render  their  situation 
hereafter  as  agreeable  as  it  has  been  heretofore. 

Letter  on  Missouri  Matters. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Nov.  5,  1861. 
The  governor  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  acting  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  convention  of  that  state,  pro- 
poses to  the  government  of  the  United  States,  that 
he  will  raise  a  military  force,  to  serve  within  the  state 
as  state  militia  during  the  war  there,  to  co-operate 
with  the  troops  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  in 
repelling  the  invasion  of  the  state  and  suppressing 
rebellion  therein;  the  said  state  militia  to  be  embod- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  107 

led  and  to  he  held  in  the  camp  and  in  the  field,  drilled, 
disciplined  and  governed  according  to  the  army  regu- 
lations and  subject  to  the  Articles  of  War;  the  said 
state  militia  not  to  be  ordered  out  ot  the  state  except 
for  the  immediate  defense  of  the  State  of  Missouri, 
hut  to  co-operate  with  the  troops  in  the  service  of  the 
United  State  in  military  operations  within  the  state 
or  necessary  to  its  defense,  and  when  officers  of  the 
state  militia  act  with  officers  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States  of  the  same  grade,  the  officers  of  the 
United  States  shall  command  the  combined  force ;  the 
state  militia  to  be  armed,  equipped,  clothed,  subsisted, 
transported,  and  paid  by  the  United  States  during 
such  time  as  they  shall  be  actually  engaged  as  an  em- 
bodied military  force  in  the  service  in  accordance 
with  regulations  of  the  United  States  army  or  gen- 
eral orders  as  issued  from  time  to  time. 

In  order  that  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States 
may  not  be  burdened  with  the  pay  of  unnecessary 
officers,  the  governor  proposes  that,  although  the 
state  law  requires  him  to  appoint  upon  the  general 
staff  an  adjutatant-general,  a  commissary-general,  an 
inspector-general,  a  quartermaster-general,  a  pay- 
master-general, and  a  surgeon-general,  each  with  the 
rank  of  colonel  of  cavalry,  yet  he  proposes  that  the 
government  of  the  United  States  pay  only  the  adju- 
tant-general, the  quartermaster-general,  and  the  in- 
spector-general, their  services  being  necessary  in  the 
relations  which  would  exist  between  the  state  militia 
and  the  United  States. 

The  governor  further  proposes  that,  while  he  is 
allowed  by  the  state  law  to  appoint  aides-de-camp  to 


* 


108  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

the  governor  at  his  discretion,  with  the  rank  of  col- 
onel, three  only  shall  be  reported  to  the  United  States 
for  payment.  He  also  proposes  that  the  state  militia 
shall  be  commanded  by  a  single  major-general,  and 
by  such  number  of  brigadier-generals  as  shall  allow 
one  for  a  brigade  of  not  less  than  four  regiments,  and 
that  no  greater  number  of  staff  officers  shall  be  ap- 
pointed for  regimental,  brigade  and  division  duties 
than  is  provided  for  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  the 
22d  of  July,  1861,  and  that  whatever  be  the  rank  of 
such  officers  as  fixed  by  the  law  of  the  state,  the  com- 
pensation that  I  bey  shall  receive  from  the  United 
States  shall  only  be  that  which  belongs  to  the  rank 
given  by  said  act  of  Congress  to  officers  in  the  United 
States  service  performing  the  same  duties. 

The  held  officers  of  a  regiment  in  the  state  militia 
are  one  colonel,  one  lieutenant-colonel,  and  one  major, 
and  the  company  officers  are  a  captain,  a  first  lieuten- 
ant, and  a  second  lieutenant. 

The  governor  proposes  that,  as  the  money  to  be 
disbursed  is  the  money  of  the  United  States,  such 
staff  officers  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  as 
may  be  necessary  to  act  as  disbursing  officers  for  the 
state  militia  shall  be  assigned  by  the  War  Department 
for  that  duty ;  or,  if  such  can  not  be  spared  from 
their  present  duty,  he  will  appoint  such  persons  dis- 
bursing officers  for  the  state  militia  as  the  President 
of  the  United  States  may  designate.  Such  regula- 
tions as  may  be  required,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
president,  to  insure  regularity  of  returns  and  to  pro- 
tect the  United  States  from  any  fraudulent  practices, 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  109 

shall   be  observed  and  obeyed  by  all  in  offiee  in  the 
state  militia. 

The  above  propositions  arc  accepted  on  the  part  of 
United  States,  and  the  Secretary  of  War  is  directed 
to  make  the  necessary  orders  upon  the  ordnance, 
commissary,  pay  and  medical  department  to  carry 
this  agreement  into  effect.  lie  will  cause  the  neces- 
sary staff  officers  in  the  United  States  service  to  be 
detailed  for  duty  in  connection  with  the  Missouri 
state  militia,  and  will  order  them  to  make  the  necei 
sary  provision  in  their  respective  offices  for  fulfilling 
this  agreement.  All  requisitions  upon  the  different 
officers  of  the  United  States,  under  this  agreement, 
to  be  made  in  substance  in  the  same  mode  for  the 
Missouri  state  militia,  as  similar  requisitions  are  made 
for  troops  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
Secretary  of  War  will  cause  any  additional  regula- 
tions that  may  be  necessary  to  insure  regularity  and 
economy  in  carrying  this  agreement  into  effect  to  be 
adopted  and  communicated  to  the  governor  of  Mis- 
souri, for  the  government  of  the  Missouri  state 
militia. 

November  6,  1861. 

This  plan  approved,  with  the  modification  that  the 
governor  stipulates  that  when  he  commissions  a  ma- 
jor-general of  militia,  it  shall  be  the  same  person  at 
the  time  in  command  of  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  the  West;  and  in  case  the  United  States  shall 
change  such  commander  of  the  department,  he,  the 
Governor,  will  revoke  the  state  commission  given  to 
person  relieved,  and  give  one  to  the  person  substi- 


110  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

tuted  to  the  United  States  command  of  said  depart- 
ment. A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  H.  W.  Halleck,  Commanding  in 
the  Department  of  Missouri. 

December  2,  1861. 

General: — As  an  insurrection  exists  in  the  United 
States  and  is  in  arms  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  you 
are  hereby  authorized  and  empowered  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  within  the  limits  of  the  military 
division  under  your  command,  and  to  exercise  mar- 
tial law  as  you  find  it  necessary  in  your  discretion,  to 
secure  the  public  safety  and  the  authority  of  the 
United  States. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  cause  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed, 
ct  Washington,  this  second  day  of  December,  a.  d. 
1861.  A.  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln's  First  Annual  Message,  Decem- 
ber 3,  1861. 

Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives:— In  the  midst  of  unprecedented  political 
troubles,  we  have  cause  of  great  gratitude  to  God 
for  unusual  good  health  and  most  abundant  liar- 
vests. 

You  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  in  the  pecu- 
liar exigencies  of  the  times,  our  intercourse  with  for- 
eign nations  has  been  attended  with  profound  solic- 
itude, chiefly  turning  upon  our  own  domestic  affairs. 

A  disloyal  portion  of  the  American  people  have, 
during  the  whole  year,  been  engaged  in  an  attempt 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  Ill 

to  divide  and  destroy  the  Union.  A  nation  which 
endures  factious  domestic  divisions, is  exposed  to  dis- 
respect abroad;  and  one  party,  if  not  both,  is  sure, 
sooner  or  later,  to  invoke  foreign  intervention. 

Nations  thus  tempted  to  interfere  are  not  always 
able  to  resist  the  counsels  of  seeming  expediency  and 
ungenerous  ambition,  although  measures  adopted  un- 
der such  influences  seldom  fail  to  be  unfortunate  and 
injurious  to  those  adopting  them. 

The  disloval  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  have 
offered  the  ruin  of  our  country  in  return  for  the  aid 
and  comfort  which  they  have  invoked  abroad,  have 
received  less  patronage  and  encouragement  than  they 
probably  expected.  If  it  were  just  to  suppose,  as  the 
insurgents  have  seemed  to  assume,  that  foreign  nations 
in  this  case,  discarding  all  moral,  social,  and  treaty 
obligations,  would  act  solely  and  selfishly  for  the 
speedy  restoration  of  commerce,  including  especially, 
the  acquisition  of  cotton,  those  nations  appear,  as 
yet,  not  to  have  seen  their  way  to  their  object  more 
directly  or  clearly  through  the  destruction  than 
through  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  If  we  could 
dare  to  believe  that  foreign  nations  are  actuated  by 
no  higher  principle  than  this,  I  am  quite  sure  a  sound 
argument  could  be  made  to  show  them  that  they  can 
reach  their  aim  more  readily  and  easily  by  aiding  to 
crush  this  rebellion  than  by  giving  encouragement 
to  it. 

The  principal  lever  relied  on  by  these  insurgents 
for  exciting  foreign  nations  to  hostility  against  us,  as 
already  intimated,  is  the  embarrassment  of  commerce. 
Those  nations,  however,  not  improbably,  saw  from 


112  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

the  first  that  it  was  the  Union  which  made  as  well 
our  foreign  as  our  domestic  commerce.  They  can 
scarcely  have  tailed  to  perceive  that  the  effort  for  dis- 
union produces  the  existing  difficulty;  and  that  one 
strong  nation  promises  more  durable  peace,  and  a 
more  extensive,  valuable,  and  reliable  commerce,  than 
can  the  same  nation  broken  into  hostile  fragments. 
It  is  not  my  purpose  to  review  our  discussions  with 
foreign  states,  because  whatever  might  be  their  wishes 
or  dispositions,  the  integrity  of  our  country,  and  the 
stability  of  our  government,  mainly  depend  not  upon 
them,  but  upon  the  loyalty,  virtue,  patriotism,  and 
intelligence  of  the  American  people.  The  corre- 
spondence itself,  with  the  usual  reservations,  is  here- 
with submitted.  I  venture  to  hope  it  will  appear 
that  we  have  practiced  prudence  and  liberality  to- 
ward foreign  powers,  averting  causes  of  irritation, 
ami,  with  firmness,  maintaining  our  own  rights  and 
honor. 

Since,  however,  it  is  apparent  that  here,  as  in  every 
other  state,  foreign  dangers  necessarily  attend  domes- 
tic difficulties,  I  recommend  that  adequate  and  ample 
measures  be  adopted  for  maintaining  the  public  de- 
fenses on  every  side.  While,  under  this  general  recom- 
mendation, provision  for  defending  our  sea-coast  line 
readily  occurs  to  the  mind,  I  also,  in  the  same  con- 
nection, ask  the  attention  of  Congress  to  our  great 
lakes  and  rivers.  It  is  believed  that  some  fortifica- 
tions and  depots  of  arms  and  munitions,  with  harbor 
and  navigation  improvements,  all  at  well  selected 
points  upon  these,  would  be  of  great  importance  to 
the  national  defense  and  preservation.     I  ask  atten- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  113 

tion  to  the  views  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  expressed 
in  his  report,  upon  the  same  general  subject.     .     .     . 

By  the  act  of  the  5th  of  August  last,  Congress  au- 
thorized the  president  to  instruct  the  commanders  of 
suitable  vessels  to  defend  themselves  against,  and  to 
capture  pirates.  This  authority  has  been  exercised 
in  single  instances  only.  For  the  more  effectual  pro- 
tection of  our  extensive  and  valuable  commerce,  in 
the  eastern  seas  especially,  it  seems  to  me  that  it 
would  also  be  advisable  to  authorize  the  commanders 
of  sailing  vessels  to  recapture  any  prizes  which  pirates 
may  make  of  United  States  vessels  and  their  cargoes, 
and  the  consular  courts,  now  established  by  law  in 
eastern  countries,  to  adjudicate  the  case,  in  the  event 
that  this  should  not  be  objected  to  by  the  local  au- 
thorities. 

If  any  good  reason  exists  why  we  should  persevere 
longer  in  withholding  our  recognition  of  the  inde- 
pendence and  sovereignty  of  Hayti  and  Liberia,  I  am 
unable  to  discern  it.  Unwilling,  however,  to  inau- 
gurate a  novel  policy  in  regard  to  them  without  the 
approbation  of  Congress,  I  submit  for  your  consider- 
ation the  expediency  of  an  appropriation  for  main- 
taining a  charge  d'affaires  near  each  of  those  new 
states.  It  does  not  admit  of  doubt  that  important 
commercial  advantages  might  be  seen  red  by  favorable 
treaties  with  them.     .     .     . 

The  execution  of  the  laws  for  the  suppression  of 
the  African  slave-trade  has  been  confided  to  the  De- 
partment of  the  Interior.  It  is  a  subject  of  gratula- 
tion  that  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  for  the 
suppression  of  this  inhuman  traffic  have  been  re- 
10 


114 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  S 


cently  attended  with  unusual  success.  Five  vessels 
being  fitted  out  for  the  slave-trade  have  been  seized 
and  condemned. 

Two  mates  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  trade,  and  one 
person  in  equipping  a  vessel  as  a  slaver,  have  been 
convicted  and  subjected  to  the  penalty  of  fine  and 
imprisonment;  and  one  captain,  taken  with  a  cargo 
of  Africans  on  board  his  vessel,  has  been  convicted  of 
the  highest  grade  of  offense  under  our  laws,  the  pun- 
ishment of  which  is  death. 

The  territories  of  Colorado,  Dakota,  and  Nevada, 
created  by  the  last  Congress,  have  been  organized, 
and  civil  administration  has  been  inaugurated  therein 
under  auspices  especially  gratifying,  when  it  is  con- 
sidered that  the  leaven  of  treason  was  found  existing 
m  some  of  these  new  countries  when  the  Federal  of- 
ficers arrived  there.  The  abundant  natural  resources 
of  these  territories,  with  the  security  and  protection 
afforded  by  organized  government,  will  doubtless  in- 
vite to  them  a  large  immigration  when  peace  shall 
restore  the  business  of  the  country  to  its  accustomed 
channels.  I  submit  the  resolutions  of  the  legislature 
of  Colorado,  which  evidence  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the 
people  of  the  territory.  So  far  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  has  been  upheld  in  all  the  territories, 
as  it  is  hoped  it  will  be  in  the  future.  I  commend 
their  interests  and  defense  to  the  enlightened  and 
generous  care  of  Congress. 

I  recommend  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Con- 
gress the  interests  of  the  District  of  Columbia.  The 
insurrection  has  been  the  cause  of  much  suffering  and 
sacrifice  to  its  inhabitants,  and  as  they  have  no  rep- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  1 1  5 

resentative  in  Congress,  that  body  should  not  over- 
look their  just  claims  upon  the  Government.     .     .     . 

The  war  continues.  In  considering  the  policy  to 
be  adopted  for  suppressing  the  insurrection,  I  have 
been  anxious  and  careful  that  the  inevitable  conflict 
for  this  purpose  shall  not  degenerate  into  a  violent 
and  remorseless  revolutionary  struggle.  I  have, 
therefore,  in  every  case,  thought  it  proper  to  keep  the 
integrity  of  the  Union  prominent  as  the  primary  ob- 
ject of  the  contest  on  our  part,  leaving  all  questions 
which  are  not  of  vital  importance  to  the  more  delib- 
erate action  of  the  legislature. 

In  the  exercise  of  my  best  discretion,  I  have  adhered 
to  the  blockade  of  the  ports  held  by  the  insurgents, 
instead  of  putting  in  force,  by  proclamation,  the  law 
of  Congress  enacted  at  the  late  session,  for  closing 
those  ports. 

So,  also,  obeying  the  dictates  of  prudence,  as  well 
as  the  obligations  of  law,  instead  of  transcending,  I 
have  adhered  to  the  act  of  Congress  to  confiscate 
property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes.  If  a  new 
law  upon  the  same  subject  shall  be  proposed,  its 
propriety  will  be  duly  considered.  The  Union  must 
be  preserved  ;  and  hence  all  indispensable  means  must 
be  employed.  We  should  not  be  in  haste  to  determine 
that  radical  and  extreme  measures,  which  may  reach 
the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are  indispensable. 

The  inaugural  address  at  the  beginning  of  the  ad- 
ministration, and  the  message  to  Congress  at  the  late 
special  session,  were  both  mainly  devoted  to  the  do- 
mestic controversy  out  ot  which  the  insurrection  and 
consequent  war  have  sprung. 


116  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Nothing  now  occurs  to  add  or  substract,  to  or  from, 
the  principles  or  general  purposes,  stated  and  ex- 
pressed in  those  documents. 

The  last  ray  of  hope  for  preserving  the  Union  peace- 
ably, expired  at  the  assault  upon  Fort  Sumter ;  and  a 
general  review  of  what  has  occured  since  may  not  be 
unprofitable.     What  was  painfully  uncertain  then,  is 
much  better  defined  and  more  distinct  now;  and  the 
progress  of  events  is  plainly  in  the  right   direction. 
The  insurgents  confidently  claimed  a  strong  support 
from  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line ;  and  the  friends 
of  the  Union  were  not  free  from  apprehension  on  the 
point.     This,  however,  was  soon  settled  definitely,  and 
on  the  right  side.     South  of  the  line,  noble  little  Del- 
aware led  off  right  from   the  first.      Marvland  was 
made  to  seem  against  the  Union.      Our  soldiers  were 
assaulted,  bridges  were  burned,  and  railroads   were 
torn  up  within  her  limits ;  and  we  were  many  days, 
at  one  time,  without  the  abilitv  to  brina:  a  sinerle  re^i- 
ment  over  her  soil  to  the  capital.     Xow  her  bridges 
and  railroads  are  repaired  and  open  to  the  Govern- 
ment ;  she  already  gives  seven  regiments  to  the  cause 
of  the  Union,  and  none  to  the  enemy;  and  her  people, 
at  a  regular  election,  have  sustained  the  Union  by  a 
larger  majority  and  a  larger  aggregate  vote  than  thev 
ever  before  gave   to   any  candidate  or  any  question. 
Kentucky,  too,  for  some  time  in  doubt,  is  now  de- 
eidedly.  and  I  think,   unchangeably  ranged  on  the 
side  of  the  Union.     Missouri  is  comparatively  quiet, 
and,  I  believe,  can  not  again  be  overrun  by  the  insur- 
rectionists.   These  three  states  of  Maryland,  Kentucky 
and  Missouri,  neither  of  which  would  promise  a  single 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  117 

soldier  at  first,  have  now  an  aggregate  of  not  less  than 
forty  thousand  in  the  field  for  the  Union ;  while  of 
their  citizens,  certainly  not  more  than  a  third  of  that 
number,  and  they  of  doubtful  whereabouts  and  doubt- 
ful existence,  are  in  amis  against  it.  After  a  some- 
what bloody  struggle  of  months,  winter  closes  on  the 
Union  people  of  western  Virginia,  leaving-  them  mas- 
ters of  their  own  country. 

An  insurgent  force  of  about  fifteen  hundred,  for 
months  dominating  the  narrow  peninsular  region  con- 
stituting the  counties  of  Accomac  and  Northampton, 
and  known  as  the  eastern  shore  of  Virginia,  together 
with  some  contiguous  parts  of  Maryland,  have  laid 
down  their  arms;  and  the  people  there  have  renewed 
their  allegiance  to,  and  accepted  the  protection  of  the 
old  flag.  This  leaves  no  armed  insurrectionist  north 
of  the  Potomac,  or  east  of  the  Chesapeake. 

Also,  we  have  obtained  a  footing  at  each  of  the 
isolated  points  on  the  southern  coast — of  Ilatteras, 
Port  Royal,  Tybee  Island  near  Savannah,  and  Ship 
Island;  and  we  likewise  have  some  general  accounts 
of  popular  movements  in  behalf  of  the  Union  in  North 
Carolina  and  Tennessee. 

These  things  demonstrate  that  the  cause  of  the 
Union  is  advancing  steadily  and  certainly  southward. 

•  •••••*.,. 

It  is  not  needed,  nor  fitting  here,  that  a  general  ar- 
gument should  be  made  in  favor  of  popular  institutions; 
but  there  is  one  point,  with  its  connections,  not  so 
hackneyed  as  most  others,  to  which  I  ask  a  brief  at- 
tention. It  is  the  effort  to  place  capital  on  an  equal 
footing  with,  if  not  above,  labor,  in  the  structure  of 


118  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

the  Government.  It  is  assumed  that  labor  is  available 
only  in  connection  with  capital ;  that  nobody  labors 
unless  somebody  else,  owning  capital,  somehow  by  the 
use  of  it  induces  him  to  labor. 

This  assumed,  it  is  next  considered  whether  it  is 
best  that  capital  shall  hire  laborers,  and  thus  induce 
them  to  work  by  their  own  consent,  or  buy  them,  and 
drive  them  to  it  without  their  consent.  Having  pro- 
ceeded so  far,  it  is  naturally  concluded  that  all  laborers 
are  either  hired  laborers  or  what  we  call  slaves.  And 
further,  it  is  assumed  that  whoever  is  once  a  hired 
laborer,  is  fixed  in  that  condition  for  life. 

Xow,  there  is  no  such  relation  between  capital  and 
labor  as  assumed  ;  nor  is  there  any  such  thing  as  a 
free  man  being;  fixed  for  life  in  the  condition  of  a  hired 
laborer.  Both  these  assumptions  are  false,  and  all 
inferences  from  them  are  groundless.  Labor  is  prior 
to  and  independent  of  capital — capital  is  only  the  fruit 
of  labor,  and  could  never  have  existed  if  labor  had  not 
first  existed.  Labor  is  the  superior  of  capital,  and  de- 
serves much  the  higher  consideration.  Capital  has 
its  rights,  which  are  as  worthy  of  protection  as  any 
other  rights.  Xor  is  it  denied  that  there  is,  and  prob- 
ably always  will  be,  a  relation  between  labor  and 
capital,  producing  mutual  benefits.  The  error  is  in 
assuming  that  the  whole  labor  of  the  community  exists 
within  that  relation.  A  few  men  own  capital,  and 
those  few  avoid  labor  themselves,  and  with  their  cap- 
ital, hire  or  buv  another  few  to  labor  for  them.  A 
large  majority  belong  to  neither  class — neither  work 
for  others,  nor  have  others  working  for  them.  In 
most  of  the  southern  states,  a  majority  of  the  whole 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  110 

people  of  all  colors  are  neither  slaves  nor  masters ; 
while  in  the  northern,  a  large  majority  are  neither 
hirers  nor  hired.  Men,  with  their  families,  wives, 
sons  and  daughters — work  for  themselves,  on  their 
farms,  in  their  houses,  and  in  their  shops,  taking  the 
whole  product  to  themselves,  and  asking  no  favors  of 
capital  on  the  one  hand,  nor  of  hired  laborers  or  slaves 
on  the  other. 

It  is  not  forgotten  that  a  considerable  number  of 
persons  mingle  their  own  labor  with  capital — that  is, 
they  labor  with  their  own  hands,  and  also  buy  or 
hire  others  to  labor  for  them  ;  but  this  is  only  a 
mixed,  and  not  a  distinct  class.  No  principle  stated 
is  disturbed  by  the  existence  of  this  mixed  class. 
Again  :  as  has  already  been  said,  there  is  not  of  neces- 
sity any  such  thing  as  the  free  hired  laborer  being 
fixed  to  that  condition  for  life.  Many  independent 
men  every-where  in  these  states,  a  few  years  back  in 
their  lives,  were  hired  laborers.  The  prudent,  penni- 
less beginner  in  the  world,  labors  for  wages  awhile, 
saves  a  surplus  with  which  to  buy  tools  or  land  for 
himself,  then  labors  on  his  own  account  another  while, 
and  at  length  hires  another  new  beginner  to  help  him. 
This  is  the  just  and  generous  and  prosperous  system, 
which  opens  the  way  to  all,  gives  hope  to  all, 
and  consequent  energy  and  progress,  and  improve- 
ment of  condition  to  all. 

No  men  living:  are  more  worthy  to  be  trusted,  than 
those  who  toil  up  from  poverty — none  less  inclined  to 
take  or  touch  aught  which  they  have  not  honestly 
earned.  Let  them  beware  of  surrendering  a  political 
power  which  they  already  possess,  and  which,  if  sur- 


120  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S       n 

rendered,  will  surely  he  used  to  close  the  door  of  ad- 
vancement against  such  as  they,  and  to  fix  new  dis- 
abilities and  burdens  upon  them,  till  all  of  liberty 
shall  be  lost. 


It  continues  to  develop  that  the  insurrection  is 
largely,  if  not  exclusively,  a  war  upon  the  first  prin- 
ciple of  popular  government — the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. Conclusive  evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  most 
grave  and  maturely  considered  public  documents,  as 
well  as  in  the  general  tone  of  the  insurgents.  In  those 
documents  we  find  the  abridgment  of  the  existing 
right  of  suffrage,  and  the  denial  to  the  people  of  all 
right  to  participate  in  the  selection  of  public  officers, 
except  the  legislative,  boldly  advocated,  with  labored 
arguments  to  prove  that  large  control  of  the  people 
in  government  is  the  source  of  all  political  evil. 
Monarchy  itself  is  sometimes  hinted  at  as  a  possible 
refuge  from  the  power  of  the  people. 

In  my  present  position,  I  could  scarcely  be  justified 
were  I  to  omit  raising  a  warning  voice  against  this 
approach  of  returning  despotism. 

From  the  first  taking  of  our  national  census  to  the 
last  are  seventy  years;  and  we  find  our  population  at 
the  end  of  the  period  eight  times  as  great  as  it  was  in 
the  beginning.  The  increase  of  those  other  things 
which  men  deem  desirable  has  been  even  greater. 
We  thus  have,  at  one  view,  what  the  popular  princi- 
ple applied  to  government,  through  the  machinery  of 
the  states  and  the  Union,  has  produced  in  a' given 
time,  and  also  what,  if  firmly  maintained,  it  promises 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  121 

for  the  future.  There  are  already  among  us  those 
who,  if  the  Union  be  preserved,  will  live  to  see  it  con- 
tain two  hundred  and  fifty  millions.  The  struo-ffle  of 
to-day  is  not  altogether  for  to-day — it  is  for  a  vast  fu- 
ture also.  With  a  reliance  on  Providence,  all  the 
more  firm  and  earnest,  let  us  proceed  in  the  great 
task  which  events  have  devolved  upon  us. 

Washington,  December  3,  1801.  A.  Lincoln. 

Executive.  Mansion,  Washington,  January  1,  1802. 
Mi/  Dear  General  Halleck: — General  McClellan  is 
not  dangerously  ill,  as  I  hope,  but  would  better  not 
be  disturbed  with  business.  I  am  very  anxious  that, 
in  case  of  General  Buell's  moving  toward  Nashville, 
the  enemy  shall  not  be  greatly  re-inforced,  and  I 
think  there  is  danger  he  will  be  from  Columbus. 
It  seems  to  me  that  a  real  or  feigned  attack  upon 
Columbus  from  up  river  at  the  same  time,  would 
either  prevent  this  or  compensate  for  it,  by  throwing 
Columbus  into  our  hands.  I  wrote  General  Buell  a 
letter  similar  to  this,  meaning  that  he  and  you  shall 
communicate  and  act  in  concert,  unless  it  be  your 
judgment  and  his  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  it. 
You  and  he  will  understand  much  better  than  I  how 
to  do  it.  Please  do  not  lose  time  in  this  matter. 
Yours,  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Brigadier-General  Buell. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  0,  1802. 
M\j  Dear    Sir: — Your  dispatch    of  yesterday   has 
been  received,  and  it  disappoints  and  distresses  me. 
I  have  shown  it  to  General  McClellan,  who  says  he  will 

11 


122  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

write  you  to-day.  I  am  not  competent  to  criticise  your 
news,  and  therefore  what  I  offer  is  merely  in  justifi- 
cation of  myself.  Of  the  two,  I  would  rather  have  a 
point  on  the  railroad  south  of  Cumberland  Gap  than 
Nashville — first,  because  it  cuts  a  great  artery  of  the 
enemy's  communication,  which  Nashville  does  not; 
and,  secondly,  because  it  is  in  the  midst  of  loyal  peo- 
ple, who  would  rally  around  it,  while  Nashville  is 
not.  Again,  I  can  not  see  why  the  movement  on  East 
Tennessee  would  not  be  a  diversion  in  your  favor 
rather  than  a  disadvantage,  assuming  that  a  move- 
ment toward  Nashville  is  the  main  object.  But  \\\y 
distress  is  that  our  friends  in  East  Tennessee  are  be- 
ing hanged  and  driven  to  despair,  and  even  now  I 
fear  are  thinking  of  taking  rebel  arms  for  the  sake  of 
personal  protection.  In  this  we  lose  the  most  valu- 
able stake  we  have  in  the  South.  My  dispatch,  to 
which  yours  is  an  answer,  was  sent  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  Senator  Johnson  and  Representative  Maynard, 
of  East  Tennessee,  and  they  will  be  upon  me  to  know 
the  answer,  which  I  can  not  safely  show  them.  They 
would  despair,  possibly  resign,  to  go  and  save  their 
families  somehow  or  die  with  them.  I  do  not  intend 
this  to  be  an  order  in  any  sense,  but  merely  as  inti- 
mated before,  to  show  you  the  grounds  of  my  anxiety. 
Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Brigadier-General  D.  C.  Buell,  Louisville. 

Washington,  January  7,  1862. 

Please  name  as  early  a  day  as  you  safely  can,  on  or 
before  which  you  can  be  ready  to  move  northward  in 
concert  with  Major-General  Halleck.     Delay  is  ruin- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  123 

ing  us,  and  it  is  indispensable  for  me  to  have  some- 
thing definite.  I  send  a  like  dispatch  to  Major-Gen- 
eral Halleek.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Brigadier-General  Buell. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  13,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  dispatch  of  yesterday  is  re- 
ceived, in  which  you  say,  "  I  received  your  letter  and 
General  McClellan's,  and  will  at  once  devote  my 
efforts  to  your  views  and  his."  In  the  midst  of  my 
many  cares  I  have  not  seen,  nor  asked  to  see,  Gen- 
eral McClellan's  letter  to  you.  For  my  own  views,  I 
have  not  offered,  and  do  not  now  offer  them  as  or- 
ders; and  while  I  am  glad  to  have  them  respectfully 
considered,  I  would  blame  you  to  follow  them  con- 
trary to  your  own  clear  judgment,  unless  I  should 
put  them  in  the  form  of  orders.  As  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan's views,  you  understand  your  duty  in  regard 
to  them  better  than  I  do.  With  this  preliminary  I 
state  my  general  idea  of  this  war  to  be,  that  we  have 
the  greater  numbers  and  the  enemy  has  the  greater 
facility  of  concentrating  forces  upon  points  of  collis- 
ion ;  that  we  must  fail  unless  we  can  find  some  way 
of  making  our  advantage  an  overmatch  for  his  ;  and 
that  this  can  only  he  done  by  menacing  him  with 
superior  forces  at  different  points  at  the  same  time,  so 
that  we  can  safely  attack  one  or  both  if  he  makes  no 
change;  and  if  he  weakens  one  to  strengthen  the 
other,  forbear  to  attack  the  strengthened  one,  but 
seize  and  hold  the  weakened  one,  gaining  so  much. 

To  illustrate:     Suppose   last  summer  when  Win- 
chester ran  away  to  enforce  Manassas,  we  had  for- 


124  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN^ 

borne  to  attack  Manassas,  but  had  seized  and  held 
Winchester.  I  mention  this  to  illustrate  and  not  to 
criticise.  I  did  not  lose  confidence  in  McDowell,  and 
I  think  less  harshly  of  Patterson  than  some  others 
seem  to.  Application  of  the  general  rule  I  am  suggest- 
ing, everv  particular  case  will  have  its  modifying 
circumstances,  among  which  the  most  constantly 
present  and  most  difficult  to  meet  will  be  the  want  of 
perfect  knowledge  of  the  enemy's  movements.  This 
had  its  part  in  the  Bull  Run  case;  but  worse  in  that 
case  was  the  expiration  of  the  terms  of  the  three 
months'  men. 

Applying  the  principle  to  your  case,  my  idea  is 
that  Halleck  shall  menace  Columbus  and  "down- 
river" °;enerallv,  while  vou  menace  Bowline:  Green 
and  East  Tennessee.  If  the  enemy  shall  concentrate 
at  Bowling  Green  do  not  retire  from  his  front,  yet  do 
not  tight  him  there  either,  but  seize  Columbus  and 
East  Tennessee,  one  or  both,  left  exposed  by  the  con- 
centration at  Bowling  Green. 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  small  anxiety  to  me,  and  one 
which  I  am  sure  you  will  not  overlook,  that  the  East 
Tennessee  is  so  long  and  over  so  bad  a  road. 

Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Halleck. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  15,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — The  Germans  are  true  and  patri- 
otic, and  so  far  as  they  have  got  cross  in  Missouri  it 
is  upon  mistake  and  misunderstanding. 

Without  a  knowledge  of  its  contents  Governor 
Koerner,  of  Illinois,  will  hand  you  this  letter.     He  is 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  125 

an  educated  and  talented  German  gentleman,  as  trim 
a  man  as  lives. 

With  his  assistance  you  can  set  every  thing  right 
with  the  Germans.  I  write  this  without  his  knowledge, 
asking  him  at  the  same  time,  by  letter,  to  deliver  it. 
My  clear  judgment  is  that,  with  reference  to  the 
German  element  in  your  command,  you  should  have 
Governor  Koerner  with  you  ;  and  if  agreeable  to  you 
and  him,  I  will  make  him  a  brigadier-general,  so  that 
he  can  afford  to  so  give  his  time. 

He  does  not  wish  to  command  in  the  held,  though 
he  has  more  military  knowledge  than  many  who  do. 
If  he  goes  into  the  place  he  will  simply  be  an  efficient, 
zealous,  and  unselfish  assistant  to  you.  I  say  all  this 
upon  intimate  personal  acquaintance  with  Governor 
Koerner.  Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  the  Secretary  of  War. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  January  31,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — It  is  my  wish  that  the  expedition 
commonly  called  the  "  Lane  Expedition,"'  shall  be  as 
much  as  has  been  promised  at  the  adjutant- general's 
office  under  the  supervision  of  General  McClellan, 
and  not  any  more.  I  have  not  intended,  and  do  not 
now  intend  that  it  shall  he  a  great,  exhausting  affair, 
but  a  snug,  sober  column  of  10,000  or  15,000.  Gen- 
eral Lane  has  been  told  by  me  many  times  that  he  is 
under  the  command  of  General  Hunter,  and  assented 
to  it  as  often  as  told.  It  was  the  distinct  agreement 
between  him  and  me  when  I  appointed  him,  that 
he  was  to  be  under  Hunter.     Yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 


126  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 


Special  War  Order  No.  1,  January  31,  1862. 
Ordered:  That  all  the  disposable  forces  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  after  providing  safely  for  the  defense 
of  Washington,  be  formed  into  an  expedition  for  the 
immediate  object  of  seizing  and  occupying  a  point 
upon  the  railroad  south  west  ward  of  what  is  known 
as  Manassas  Junction;  all  details  to  be  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  general-in-chief,  and  the  expedition  to 
move  before  or  on  the  22d  day  of  February  next. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  McClellan,  February  3,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — You  and  I  have  distinct  and  differ- 
ent plans  for  a  movement  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac. Yours  to  be  done  by  the  Chesapeake,  up  the 
Rappahannock  to  Urbanna,  and  across  to  the  terminus 
of  the  railroad  on  the  York  river;  mine  to  move  di- 
rectly to  a  point  on  the  railroad  south-west  of  Man- 
assas. 

If  you  will  give  me  satisfactory  answers  to  the 
following  questions,  I  shall  gladly  yield,  my  plan 
to  yours : 

1.  Does  not  your  plan  involve  a  greatly  larger  ex- 
penditure of  time  and  money  than  mine? 

2.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  certain  by  your  plan 
than  mine? 

3.  Wherein  is  a  victory  more  valuable  by  your  plan 
than  mine  ? 

4.  In  fact,  would  it  not  be  less  valuable  in  this; 
that  it  would  break  no  great  line  of  the  enemy's  com- 
munications, while  mine  would? 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  127 

5.  In  case  of  disaster,  would  not  a  retreat  be  more 
difficult  by  your  plan  than  mine.     Yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Hunter  and  Brigadier-General 
Lane,  Leavenworth,  Kansas. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  10, 1862. 

My  wish  has  been  and  is  to  avail  the  Government 
of  the  services  of  both  General  Hunter  and  General 
Lane,  and,  so  far  as  possible,  to  personally  oblige  both. 

General  Hunter  is  the  senior  officer,  and  must  com- 
mand when  they  serve  together;  though  in  so  far  as 
he  can,  consistently  with  the  public  service  and  his 
own  honor,  oblige  General  Lane,  he  will  also 
oblige  me. 

If  they  can  not  come  to  an  amiable  understanding, 
General  Lane  must  report  to  General  Hunter  for 
duty,  according  to  rules,  or  decline  the  service. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Halleck,  St.  Louis  Mo. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  16, 1862. 

You  have  Fort  Donelson  safe,  unless  Grant  shall  be 
overwhelmed  from  outside;  to  prevent  which  latter 
will,  I  think,  require  all  the  vigilance,  energy  and 
skill  of  yourself  and  Buell,  acting  in  full  co-opera- 
tion. Columbus  will  not  get  at  Grant,  but  the  full 
force  from  Bowling  Green  will.  They  hold  the  rail- 
road from  Bowling  Green  to  within  a  few  miles  of 
Fort  Donelson,  with  the  bridge  at  Clarksville  undis- 
turbed. It  is  unsafe  to  rely  that  they  will  not  dare  to 
expose   Nashville   to    Buell.     A  small  part  of  their 


1  28  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

force  can  retire  slowly  toward  Nashville,  breaking  up 
the  railroad  as  they  go,  and  keep  Buell  out  of  that 
city  twenty  days.  Meanwhile,  Nashville  will  be 
abundantly  defended  by  forces  from  all  south,  and 
perhaps  from  here  at  Manassas.  Could  not  a  cavalry 
force  from  General  Thomas  on  the  upper  Cumberjand 
dash  across,  almost  unresisted,  and  cut  the  railroad 
at  or  near  Knoxville,  Tenn.?  In  the  midst  of  a  bom- 
bardment at  Fort  Donelson,  why  could  not  a  gun-boat 
run  up  and  destroy  the  bridge  at  Clarksville?  Our 
success  or  failure  at  Fort  Donelson  is  vastly  impor- 
tant, and  I  beg  you  to  put  your  soul  in  the  effort.  I 
send  a  copy  of  this  to  Buell.  A.  Lincoln. 

Recommendation  to  Congress,  March  6, 1862. 

I  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  joint  resolution  by 
your  honorable  bodies,  which  shall  be  substantially  as 
follows: 

Kesoloed,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  co-oper- 
ate with  any  state  which  may  adopt  gradual  abolish- 
ment of  slavery,  giving  to  such  state  pecuniary  aid, 
to  be  used  by  such  state  in  its  discretion,  to  compen- 
sate for  the  inconvenience,  both  public  and  private, 
produced  by  such  change  of  system. 

If  the  proposition  contained  in  the  resolution  does 
not  meet  the  approval  of  Congress  and  the  country, 
there  is  the  end ;  but  if  it  does  command  such  ap- 
proval, I  deem  it  of  importance  that  the  states  and 
people  immediately  interested  should  be  at  once  dis- 
tinctly notified  of  the  fact,  so  that  they  may  begin  to 
consider  whether  to  accept  or  reject  it.  The  Federal 
government  would  find  its  highest  interest  in  such  a 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  129 

measure,  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  self- 
preservation.  The  leaders  of  the  existing  insurrec- 
tion entertain  the  hope  that  this  government  will  ul- 
timately he  forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  some  part  of  the  disaffected  region,  and  that  all 
the  slave  states  north  of  such  part  will  then  say, 
"  the  Union  for  which  we  have  struggled  being  already 
gone,  we  now  choose  to  go  with  the  southern  sec- 
tion." To  deprive  them  of  this  hope,  substantially 
ends  the  rebellion;  and  the  initiation  of  emancipation 
completely  deprives  them  of  it  as  to  all  the  states 
initiating  it.  The  point  is  not  that  all  the  states  tol- 
erating slavery,  would  very  soon,  if  at  all,  initiate 
emancipation;  hut  that,  while  the  offer  is  equally 
made  to  all,  the  more  northern  shall,  by  such  initia- 
tion, make  it  certain  to  the  more  southern  that  in  no 
event  will  the  former  ever  join  the  latter  in  their  pro- 
posed confederacy.  I  say  "  initiation,"  because,  in 
my  judgment  gradual,  and  not  sudden  emancipation, 
is  better  for  all.  In  the  mere  financial  or  pecuniary 
view,  any  member  of  Congress,  with  the  census  tables 
and  treasury  reports  before  him,  can  readily  see  for 
himself  how  very  soon  the  current  expenditures  of 
this -war  would  purchase,  at  fair  valuation,  all  the 
slaves  in  any  named  state.  Such  a  proposition  on  the 
part  of  the  general  government  sets  up  no  claim  of  a 
right  by  Federal  authority  to  interfere  with  slavery 
within  state  limits,  referring,  as  it  does,  the  absolute 
control  of  the  subject  in  each  case  to  the  state  and  its 
people  immediately  interested.  It  is  proposed  as  a 
matter  of  perfectly  free  choice  with  them. 

In  the  annual  message  last  December,  I  thought  fit 


130  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

to  say,  "  the  Union  must  preserved  ;  and  hence  all  in- 
dispensable means  must  be  employed."  1  said  this 
not  hastily,  but  deliberately.  War  has  been  made, 
and  continues  to  be  an  indispensable  means  to  this 
end.  A  practical  re-acknowledgement  of  the  national 
authority  would  render  the  war  unnecessary,  and  it 
would  at  once  cease.  If,  however,  resistance  contin- 
ues, the  war  must  also  continue;  and  it  is  impossible 
to  foresee  all  the  incidents  which  may  attend,  and  all 
the  ruin  which  may  follow  it.  Such  as  may  seem  in- 
dispensable, or  may  obviously  promise  great  efficiency 
toward  ending  the  strugle,  must  and  will  come.  The 
proposition  now  made,  though  an  offer  only,  I  hope 
it  may  be  esteemed  no  offense  to  ask  whether  the 
pecuniary  consideration  tendered  would  not  be  of 
more  value  to  the  states  and  private  persons  con- 
cerned, than  are  the  institution  and  property  in  it,  in 
the  present  aspect  of  affairs. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  adoption  of  the  proposed 
resolution  would  be  merely  initiatory,  and  not  within 
itself  a  practical  measure,  it  is  recommended  in  the 
hope  that  it  would  soon  lead  to  important  practical 
results.  In  full  view  of  my  great  responsibility  to 
my  God  and  to  my  country,  I  earnestly  beg  the  at- 
tention of  Congress  and  the  people  to  the  subject. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

General  War  Order  No.  3,  March  8,  1862. 

Ordered:  That  no  change  of  the  base  of  operations 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  shall  be  made  without 
leaving  in  and  about  Washington  such  a  force  as,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  general-in-chief  and  the  command- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  131 

ers  of  all  the  army  corps,  shall  leave  the  said  city  en- 
tirely secure. 

That  no  more  than  two  army  corps  (about  50,000 
troops),  of  said  Army  of  the  Potomac  shall  be  moved 
en  route  for  a  new  base  of  operations  until  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Potomac  from  Washington  to  the 
Chesapeake  bay  shall  be  freed  from  the  enemy's  bat- 
teries and  obstructions,  or  until  the  president  shall 
hereafter  give  express  permission. 

That  any  movement  aforesaid  en  route  for  a  new 
base  of  operations,  which  may  be  ordered  by  the 
general-in-chief,  and  which  may  be  intended  to  move 
upon  the  Chesapeake  bay,  shall  begin  to  move  upon 
the  bay  as  early  as  the  18th  March  inst.,  and  the 
general-in-chief  shall  be  responsible  that  it  so  move 
as  early  as  that  day. 

Ordered:  That  the  army  and  navy  co-operate  in  an 
immediate  effort  to  capture  the  enemy's  batteries 
upon  the  Potomac  between  Washington  and  the 
Chesapeake  bay.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  D.  C.  Buell. 

Washington,  March  10,  1862. 
The  evidence  is  very  strong  that  the  enemy  in  front 
of  us  here  is  breaking  up  and  moving  off.  General 
McClellan  is  after  him.  Some  part  of  the  force  may 
be  destined  to  meet  you.  Look  out  and  be  prepared. 
I  telegraphed  Halleck,  asking  him  to  assist  you,  if 
needed.  A.  Lincoln. 

General  War  Orders,  March  13,  1862. 
First.    Leave  such  force  at  Manassas  Junction  as 


132  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

shall  make  it  entirely  certain  that  the  enemy  shall 
not  repossess  himself  of  that  position  and  line  of 
communication. 

Second.  Leave  Washington  secure. 

Third.  Move  the  remainder  of  the  force  down  the 
Potomac,  choosing  a  new  base  at  Fort  Monroe,  or 
anywhere  between  here  and  there,  or,  at  all  events, 
move  such  remainder  of  the  army,  at  once,  in  pursuit 
of  the  enemy,  by  some  route.  A.  Lincoln. 

Nomination. 

March  22,  1862. 
The  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  to  all 
who  shall  set  tht  s<  presents,  greeting:  Know  ye  that,  re- 
posing special  trust  and  confidence  in  the  patriotism, 
valor,  fidelity,  and  abilities  of  John  Pope,  I  have 
nominated,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  senate,  do  appoint  him  major-general  of  vol- 
unteers in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  to  rank 
as  such  from  the  21st  day  of  March,  1862.  He  is, 
therefore,  carefully  and  diligently  to  discharge  the 
duty  of  major-general,  by  doing  and  performing  all 
manner  of  things  thereunto  belonging.  And  I  do 
strictly  charge  and  require  all  officers  and  soldiers 
under  his  command  to  be  obedient  to  his  orders  as 
major-general.  And  he  is  to  observe  and  follow  such 
orders  and  directions,  from  time  to  time,  as  he  shall 
receive  from  me,  or  the  future  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  or  the  general  or  other  Superior 
officers  set  over  him,  according  to  the  rules  and  dis- 
cipline of  war.    This  commission  to  continue  in  force 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  133 

during  the  pleasure  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  for  the  time  being. 

Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington, 
this  22d  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  in  the 
eighty-sixth  year  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Gen.  McClellan,  April  9,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir. — Your  dispatches,  complaining  that 
you  are  not  properly  sustained,  while  they  do  not 
offend  me,  do  pain  me  very  much. 

Blenker's  division  was  withdrawn  from  you  before 
you  left  here,  and  you  know  the  pressure  under  which 
I  did  it,  and,  as  I  thought,  acquiesced  in  it,  certainly 
not  without  reluctance. 

After  you  left  I  ascertained  that  less  than  twenty 
thousand  unorganized  men,  without  a  single  field 
battery,  were  all  you  designed  to  be  left  for  the  defense 
of  Washington  and  Manassas  Junction  ;  and  part  of 
this  even  was  to  go  to  General  Hooker's  old  position. 
General  Banks's  corps,  once  designed  for  Manassas 
Junction,  was  diverted  and  tied  upon  the  line  oi 
Winchester  and  Strasburg,  and  could  not  leave  it 
without  again  exposing  the  upper  Potomac,  and  the 
Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad.  This  presented  (or 
would  present,  when  McDowell  and  Sumner  should 
be  gone)  a  great  temptation  to  the  enemy  to  turn  back 
from  the  Rappahannock  and  sack  Washington.  My 
explicit  order  that  Washington  should,  by  the  judg- 
ment of  all  the  commanders  of  army  corps,  be  left  en- 


134  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

tirely  secure,  had  been  neglected.  It  was  precisely 
this  that  drove  me  to  detain  McDowell. 

I  do  not  forget  that  I  was  satisfied  with  your  ar- 
rangement to  leave  Banks  at  Manassas  Junction  ; 
but  when  that  arrangement  was  broken  up,  and  nothing 
was  substituted  for  it,  of  course,  I  was  constrained  to 
substitute  something  for  it  myself.  And  allow  me  to 
ask,  do  you  really  think  I  should  permit  the  line  from 
Richmond  via  Manassas  Junction  to  this  city  to  be 
entirely  open,  except  what  resistance  could  be  pre- 
sented by  twenty  thousand  unorganized  troops  ?  This 
is  a  question  which  the  country  will  not  allow  me 
to  evade 

There  is  a  curious  mystery  about  the  number  of  the 
troops  now  with  you.  When  I  telegraphed  you  on 
the  6th,  saying  you  had  over  a  hundred  thousand 
with  you,  I  had  just  obtained  from  the  secretary  of 
war  a  statement,  taken,  as  he  said,  from  your  own 
returns,  making  one  hundred  and  eight  thousand  then 
with  you  and  en  route  to  you.  You  now  say  you  will 
have  but  eighty-five  thousand  when  all  en  route  to  you 
shall  have  reached  you. 

How  can  the  discrepancy  of  twenty-three  thousand 
be  accounted  for  ? 

As  to  General  Wool's  command,  I  understand  it  is 
doing  for  }'ou  precisely  what  a  like  number  of  your 
own  would  have  to  do  if  that  command  was  away. 

I  suppose  the  whole  force  which  has  gone  forward 
for  you  is  with  you  by  this  time,  and  if  so,  I  think  it 
is  the  precise  time  to  strike  a  blow.  By  delay  the  en- 
emy will  relatively  gain  upon  you — that  is,  he  will 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  135 

gain   faster,  by  fortifications  and  re-inf or  cements,  than 
you  can  by  re-inforcements  alone. 

And  once  more  let  me  tell  you  it  is  indispensable 
to  you  that  you  strike  a  blow.  7  am  powerless  to 
help  this.  You  will  do  me  the  justice  to  remember  I 
always  insisted  that  going  down  the  bay  in  search  of 
a  field,  instead  of  fighting  at  or  near  Manassas,  was 
only  shifting,  and  not  surmounting,  a  difficulty;  that 
we  would  find  the  same  enemy,  and  the  same  or  equal 
intrenchments,  at  either  place.  The  country  will  not 
fail  to  note — is  now  noting — that  the  present  hesita- 
tion to  move  upon  an  intrenched  enemy  is  but  the 
story  of  Manassas  repeated. 

I  beg  to  assure  you  that  I  have  never  written  you, 
or  spoken  to  you,  in  greater  kindness  of  feeling  than 
now,  nor  with  a  fuller  purpose  to  sustain  you,  so  far 
as  in  my  most  anxious  judgment,  I  consistently  can. 
But  you  must  act.     Yours,  very  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

Proclamation,  April  10,  1862. 

It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  vouchsafe  signal 
victories  to  the  land  and  naval  forces  engaged  in  sup- 
pressing an  internal  rebellion,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  avert  from  our  country  the  dangers  of  foreign  in- 
tervention and  invasion. 

It  is  therefore  recommended  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  that  at  their  next  weekly  assemblages 
in  their  accustomed  places  of  public  worship,  which 
shall  occur  after  the  notice  of  this  proclamation  shall 
have  been  received,  they  especially  acknowledge  and 
render  thanks  to  our  Heavenly  Father  for  these  in- 


136    -  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

estimable  blessings ;  that  they  then  and  there  implore 
spiritual  consolation  in  behalf  of  all  those  who  have 
been  brought  into  affliction  by  the  casualties  and 
calamities  of  sedition  and  civil  war;  and  that  they 
reverently  invoke  the  divine  guidance  for  our  national 
councils,  to  the  end  that  they  may  speedily  result  in 
the  restoration  of  peace,  harmony,  and  unity  through- 
out our  borders,  and  hasten  the  establishment  of 
fraternal  relations  among  all  the  countries  of  the  earth. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  the  tenth  day  of 
April,  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-sixth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Message  to  Congress,  April  16,  1862. 

The  act  entitled  "An  act  for  the  release  of  certain 
persons  held  to  service  or  labor  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,*'  has  this  day  been  approved  and  signed. 

I  have  never  doubted  the  constitutional  authority 
of  Congress  to  abolish  slavery  in  this  district ;  and  I 
have  ever  desired  to  see  the  national  capital  freed  from 
the  institution  in  some  satisfactory  way.  Hence,  there 
has  never  been  in  my  mind  any  question  upon  the 
subject  except  the  one  of  expediency,  arising  in  view  of 
all  the  circumstances.  If  there  be  matters  within  and 
about  this  act  which  might  have  taken  a  course  or 
shape  more  satisfactory  to  my  judgment,  I  do  not  at- 
tempt to  specify  them.  I  am  gratified  that  the  two 
principles  of  compensation  and  colonization,  are  both 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  137 

recognized  and  practically  applied  in  the  act.  In  the 
matterof  compensation,  it  is  provided  that  claims  may 
be  presented  within  ninety  days  from  the  passage  of 
the  act,  "  but  not  thereafter;  "  and  there  is  no  saving 
for  minors,  femmes  covert,  insane,  or  absent  persons.  I 
presume  this  is  an  omission  by  mere  oversight,  and  I 
recommend  that  it  be  supplied  by  an  amendatory  or 
supplemental  act.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  Governor  Andrew  Johnson,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

War  Department,  April  27,  1862. 

Your  dispatch  of  yesterday  just  received,  as  also, 
in  due  course,  was  your  former  one.  The  former  one 
was  sent  to  General  Halleck,  and  we  have  his  answer, 
by  which  I  have  no  doubt  he  (General  Halleck)  is  in 
communication  with  you  before  this.  General  Hal- 
leck understands  better  than  we  can  here,  and  he 
must  be  allowed  to  control  in  that  quarter. 

If  you  are  not  in  communication  with  Halleck, 
telegraph  him  at  once,  freely  and  frankly. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Flag  Officer  Goldsborough. 

Fort  Monroe,  Virginia,  May  7,  1862. 
Sir: — Major-General  McClellan  telegraphs  that  he 
has  ascertained,  by  a  reconnaissance,  that  the  battery 
at  Jamestown  has  been  abandoned,  and  he  again  re- 
quests that  gun-boats  may  be  sent  up  the  James  river. 
If  you  have  tolerable  confidence  that  you  can  success- 
fully contend  with  the  Merrimac  without  the  help  of 
the  Galena  and  two  accompanying  gun-boats,  send 
12 


138  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

the  Galena  and  two  gun-boats  up  the  James  river  at 
once.  Please  report  your  action  on  this  to  me  at 
once.  I  shall  he  found  either  at  General  Wool's 
headquarters  or  on  board  the  Miami. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  McClellan,  May  9,  1862. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  just  assisted  the  Secretary 
of  War  in  forming  the  part  of  a  dispatch  to  you  re- 
lating to  army  corps,  which  dispatch,  of  course,  will 
have  reached  you  long  before  this  will.  I  wish  to 
say  a  few  words  to  you  privately  on  this  subject.  I 
ordered  the  army  corps  organization  not  only  on  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  twelve  generals  of  division,  but 
also  on  the  unanimous  opinion  of  every  military  man  J 
could  get  an  opinion  from,  and  every  modem  military 
book,  yourself  only  excepted.  Of  course  I  did  not,  on 
my  own  judgment,  pretend  to  understand  the  sub- 
ject. I  now  think  it  indispensable  for  you  to  know  how 
your  struggle  against  it  is  received  in  quarters  which  we 
can  not  entirely  disregard.  It  is  looked  upon  as  merely 
an  effort  to  pamper  one  or  two  pets,  and  to  persecute  and 
degrade  their  supposed  rivals.  I  have  had  no  word  from 
Sumner,  Heintzelman,  or  Keyes.  The  commanders  of 
these  corps  are,  of  course,  the  three  highest  officials 
with  you,  but  I  am  constantly  told  that  you  have  no 
consultation  or  communication  with  them,  that  you 
consult  and  communicate  with  nobody  but  Fitz  John 
Porter,  and  perhaps  General  Franklin.  I  do  not  say 
these  complaints  are  true  or  just,  but,  at  all  events,  it 
is  proper  that  you  should  know  of  their  existence, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  139 

Do  the  commanders  of  corps  disobey  your  orders  in 
any  thing? 

When  you  relieved  General  Hamilton  of  his  command 
the  other  day  you  thereby  lost  the  confidence  of  at  least 
one  of  your  best  friends  in  the  senate.  And  here  let  me 
say,  not  as  applicable  to  you  personally,  that  senators 
and  representatives  speak  of  me  in  their  places  as 
they  please  without  question;  and  that  officers  of  the 
army  must  cease  addressing  insulting  letters  to  them 
for  taking  no  greater  liberty  with  them.  But  to  re- 
turn, are  you  strong  enough,  even  with  my  help,  to  set 
your  foot  upon  the  neck  of  Sumner,  Heintzelman,  and. 
Keyes,  edl  at  once?  This  is  a  practical  and  very  serious 
question  for  you.  Yours  truly,         A.Lincoln. 

To  Flag  Officer  Goldsborough. 

Fort  Monroe,  Va.,  May  10,  1862. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  send  you  this  copy  of  your  report 
of  yesterday  for  the  purpose  of  saying  to  you  in  writ- 
ing, that  you  are  quite  right  in  supposing  the  move- 
ment made  by  you  and  therein  reported  was  made  in 
accordance  with  my  wishes,  verbally  expressed  to 
you  in  advance.  I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  to 
thank  you  for  your  courtesy  and  all  your  conduct,  so 
far  as  known  to  me,  during  my  brief  visit  here. 

Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Proclamation  Declaring   Major-General  Hunter's 
Emancipation  Orders  Null  and  Void. 

May  19,  1862. 
J,  Abraham    Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  State*, 
proclaim   and  declare  that    the   government   of  the 


140  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

United  States  had  no  knowledge  or  belief  of  an  inten- 
tion on  the  part  of  General  Hunter  to  issue  such  a 
proclamation,  nor  has  it  yet  any  authentic  informa- 
tion that  the  document  is  genuine,  and  further,  that 
neither  General  Hunter,  nor  any  other  commander, 
or  person,  has  been  authorized  by  the  government  of 
the  United  States  to  make  a  proclamation  declaring 
the  slaves  of  any  state  free,  and  that  the  supposed 
proclamation  now  in  question  is  altogether  void,  so 
far  as  respects  such  declaration. 

I  further  make  known  that  whether  it  be  compe- 
tent for  me,  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 
navy,  to  declare  the  slaves  of  any  state  or  states  free, 
and  whether  at  any  time  or  in  any  case,  it  shall  have 
become  a  necessity,  indispensable  to  the  maintenance 
of  the  government,  to  exercise  such  supposed  power, 
are  questions  which,  under  my  responsibility,  I  reserve 
to  myself,  and  which  I  can  not  feel  justified  in  leav- 
ing to  the  decision  of  commanders  in  the  field. 
These  are  totally  difi'erent  questions  from  those  of 
police  regulations  in  armies  and  corps. 

On  the  6th  day  of  March  last,  by  a  special  message, 
I  recommended  to  Congress  the  adoption  of  a  joint 
resolution,  to  be  substantially  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  United  States  ought  to  co-op- 
erate with  any  state  which  may  adopt  a  gradual 
abolishment  of  slavery,  giving  aid  to  such  state,  in  its 
discretion,  to  compensate  for  the  inconveniences,  pub- 
lic and  private,  produced  by  such  change  of  system. 

The  resolution,  in  the  language  above  quoted,  was 
adopted  by  large  majorities  in  both  branches  of  Con- 
gress;   and   now   stands   an  authentic,   definite  and 


PEN  AND  VOICE. 


141 


solemn  proposal  of  the  nation  to  the  states  and  peo- 
ple most  immediately  interested  in  the  subject-matter. 
To  the  people  of  these  states  I  now  earnestly  appeal. 
I  do  not  argue,  I  beseech  you  to  make  the  arguments 
for  yourselves.  You  can  not,  if  yon  would,  be  blind 
to  the  signs  of  the  times.  I  beg  of  you  a  calm  and 
enlarged  consideration  of  them,  ranging,  if  it  may  be, 
far  above  personal  and  partisan  polities. 

This  proposal  makes  common  cause  for  a  common 
object,  casting  no  reproaches  upon  any,  It  acts  not 
the  Pharisee.  The  change  it  contemplates  would 
come  gently  as  the  dews  of  heaven,  not  rending  or 
wrecking  any  thing.  Will  you  not  embrace  it?  So 
much  good  has  not  been  done  by  one  effort  in  all  past 
time,  as  in  the  providence  of  God  it  is  now  your  high 
privilege  to  do.  May  the  vast  future  not  have  to  la- 
ment that  yon  have  neglected  it. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  19th  day  of 
May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-sixth.        A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington  City,  May  21,  1862. 
Your  long  dispatch  of  yesterday  (to-day)  just  re- 
ceived. You  will  have  just  such  control  of  General 
McDowell  and  his  force  as  you  therein  indicate.  Mc- 
Dowell can  reach  you  by  land  sooner  than  he  could 
get  aboard  of  boats,  if  the  boats  were  ready  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,   unless    his  march  shall    be    resisted,   in 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

which  case  the  force  resisting  him  will  certainly  not 

be  confronting  you  at  Richmond.     By  land  he  can 

reach    you   in  five  days   after  starting,  whereas   by 

water  he  would  not  reach  you  in  two  weeks,  judging 

by  past  experience.     Franklin's  single   division  did 

not  reach  you  in  ten  days  after  I  ordered  it. 

A.  Lincoln. 
To  General  Saxton. 

War  Department,  May  24,  1862,  1  P.  31. 
Geary  reports  Jackson  with  20,000  moving  from 
Ashby's  Gap,  by  the  Little  River  Turnpike,  through 
Aldie,  toward  Centreville.  This  he  says  is  reliable. 
He  is  also  informed  of  large  forces  south  of  him. 
"We  know  of  a  force  of  some  15,000  broke  up  Satur- 
day night  from  in  front  of  Fredericksburg,  and  went 
we  know  not  where.  Please  inform  us,  if  possible, 
what  has  become  of  the  force  which  pursued  Banks 
yesterday  ;  also  any  other  information  you  have. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont,  Franklin. 

War  Department,  May  24,  1862,  4  P.  M. 
You  are  authorized  to  purchase  400  horses  or  take 
them  whenever  and  however  you  can  get  them.  The 
exposed  condition  of  General  Banks  makes  his  im- 
mediate relief  a  point  of  paramount  importance.  You 
are  therefore  directed  by  the  president  to  move 
against  Jackson  at  Harrisonburg,  and  operate  against 
the  enemy  in  such  way  as  to  relieve  Banks.  The 
movement  must  be  made  immediately. 

You  will  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  this  order  and 
specify  the  hour  it  was  received  by  you. 

A.  Lincoln. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  143 

To  Major-General  McDowell. 

Washington,  May  24,  18G2. 

General  Fremont  lias  been  ordered  by  telegraph 
to  move  to  Franklin  and  Harrisonburg  to  relieve  Gen- 
eral Banks,  and  capture  or  destroy  Jackson's  and 
Ewell's  forces. 

You  are  instructed,  laying  aside  for  the  present 
the  movement  on  Richmond,  to  put  twenty  thousand 
men  in  motion  at  once  for  the  Shenandoah,  moving 
on  the  line,  or  in  advance  of  the  line,  of  the  Manas- 
sas Gap  Railroad.  Your  object  will  be  to  capture 
the  forces  of  Jackson  and  Ewell,  cither  in  co-opera- 
tion with  General  Fremont,  or,  in  ease  want  of  sup- 
plies or  transportation  has  interfered  with  his  move- 
ment, it  is  believed  that  the  force  which  you  move 
will  be  sufficient  to  accomplish  the  object  alone. 
The  information  thus  far  received  here  makes  it 
probable  that,  if  the  enemy  operates  actively  against 
General  Banks,  you  will  not  be  able  to  count  upon 
much  assistance  from  him,  but  may  have  even  to  re- 
relieve  him. 

Reports  received  this  morning  are  that  Banks  is 
fighting  with  Ewell  eight  miles  from  Harper's  Ferry. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont,  Franklin,  Va. 

War  Department,  May  24,  1862,  7:15  P.  M. 
Many  thanks  for  the  promptness  with  which  you 
have  answered  that  you  will  execute  the  order. 
Much — perhaps  all — depends  upon  the  celerity  with 
which  you  can  execute  it.  Put  the  utmost  speed 
into  it.     Do  not  lose  a  moment.  A.  Lincoln. 


144  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

To  Major-General  Halleck,  near  Corinth,  Miss. 

War  Department,  May  24,  1862. 

Several  dispatches  from  Assistant  Secretary  Scott, 
and  one  from  Governor  Martin,  asking  reinforce- 
ments for  you,  have  heen  received.  I  beg  you  to  he 
assured  we  do  the  hest  we  can.  I  mean  to  cast  no 
hlame  when  I  tell  you  each  of  our  commanders  along 
our  line  from  Richmond  to  Corinth  supposes  himself 
to  be  confronted  by  numbers  superior  to  his  own. 

Under  this  pressure,  we  thinned  the  line  on  the 
Upper  Potomac,  until  yesterday  it  was  broken  at 
heavy  loss  to  us,  and  General  Banks  put  in  great 
peril,  out  of  which  he  is  not  yet  extricated,  and  may 
be  actually  captured.  We  need  men  to  repair  this 
breach,  and  have  them  not  at  hand. 

My  dear  general,  I  feel  justified  to  rely  very  much 
on  you.  I  believe  you,  and  the  brave  officers  and 
men  with  you,  can  and  will  get  the  victory  at  Cor- 
inth. A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Saxton,  Harper's  Ferry. 
War  Department,  May  25,  1862,  4:15  P.  M. 
If  Banks  reaches  Martinsburg,  is  he  any  the  better 
for  it?  Will  not  the  enemy  cut  him  off  from  thence 
to  Harper's  Ferry?  Have  you  sent  any  thing  to 
meet  him,  and  assist  him  at  Martinsburg?  Tins  is 
an  inquiry,  not  an  order.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington,  May  25,  1862,  2  P.  M. 
The  enemy  is  moving  north  in  sufficient  force  to 
drive  General  Banks  before  him,  precisely  in  what 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  145 

force  we  can  not  tell.  lie  is  also  threatening;  Lees- 
burg  and  Geary,  on  the  Manassas  Gap  Railroad,  from 
both  north  and  south — in  precisely  what  force  we 
can  not  tell.  I  think  the  movement  is  a  general  and 
concerted  one,  such  as  would  not  be  if  he  was  act- 
ing upon  the  purpose  of  a  very  desperate  defense 
of  Richmond.  I  think  the  time  is  near  when  you 
must  either  attack  Richmond,  or  give  up  the  job, 
and  come  to  the  defense  of  Washington.  Let  me 
hear  from  you  instantly.  A.  Lincoln. 


To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington,  May  25,  1862. 

Your  dispatch  received.  General  Banks  was  at 
Strasburg,  with  about  6,000  men,  Shields  having 
taken  from  him  to  swell  a  column  for  McDowell  to 
aid  you  at  Richmond,  and  the  rest  of  his  force  scat- 
tered at  various  places.  On  the  23d,  a  rebel  force  of 
7,000  to  10,000  fell  upon  one  regiment  and  two  com- 
panies, guarding  the  bridge  at  Front  Royal,  destroy- 
ing it  entirely,  crossed  the  Shenandoah,  and  on  the 
24th  (yesterday)  pushed  on  to  get  north  of  Banks, 
on  the  road  to  Winchester.  General  Banks  ran  a 
race  with  them,  beating  them  into  Winchester  yes- 
terday evening. 

This  morning  a  battle  ensued  between  the  two 
forces,  in  which  General  Banks  was  beaten  back  into 
full  retreat  toward  Martinsburg,  and  probably  is 
broken  up  into  a  total  rout.  Geary,  on  the  Manassas 
Gap  Railroad,  just  now  reports  that  Jackson  is  now 
near  Front  Royal,  with  10,000  troops,  following  up 
13 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

and  supporting,  as  I  understand,  the  force  now  pur- 
suing Banks.  Also  that  another  force  of  10,000  is 
near  Orleans,  following  on  the  same  direction.  Strip- 
ped bare,  as  we  are  here,  I  will  do  all  we  can  to 
prevent  them  crossing  the  Potomac  at  Harper's 
Ferry  or  above.  McDowell  has  about  20,000  of  his 
forces  moving  back  to  the  vicinitv  of  Front  Royal, 
and  Fremont,  who  was  at  Franklin,  is  moving  to 
Harrisonburg  ;  both  these  movements  intended  to  get 
in  the  enemy's  rear. 

One  more  of  McDowell's  brigades  is  ordered 
through  here  to  Harper's  Ferry,  the  rest  of  his  force 
remain  fit  present  at  Fredericksburg.  We  are  send- 
ing such  regiments  and  dribs  from  here  and  Balti- 
more as  we  can  spare  to  Harper's  Ferry,  supplying 
their  places  in  some  sort,  by  calling  in  militia  from 
the  adjacent  states.  We  also  have  eighteen  cannon 
on  the  road  to  Harper's  Ferry,  of  which  arm  there 
is  not  a  single  one  at  that  point.  This  is  now  our 
situation. 

If  McDowell's  force  was  now  beyond  our  reach 
we  should  be  entirely  helpless.  Apprehensions  of 
something  like  this,  and  no  unwillingness  to  sustain 
you,  have  always  been  my  reasons  for  withholding 
McDowell's  from  you.  Please  understand  this,  and 
do  the  best  you  can  with  the  forces  you  have. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Saxton,  Harper's  Ferry. 

War  Department,  May  25,  18G2. 
I  fear  you  have  mistaken  me.     I  did  not  mean  to 
question    the  correctness    of  your   conduct;    on   the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  147 

contrary,  I  approve  what  you  have  clone.  As  "the 
2,500  reported  by  you  seemed  small  to  me,  T  feared 
some  had  got  to  Banks  and  been  cut  off  with  him. 
Please  tell  me  the  exact  number  you  have  in  hand. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Saxton,  Harper's  Ferry. 
War  Department,  May  25,  1862,  6:50  P.  31. 
One  good  six-gun  battery,  complete  in  its  men 
and  appointments,  is  now  on  its  way  to  you  from 
Baltimore.  Eleven  other  guns,  of  different  sorts,  are 
on  their  way  to  yon  from  here.  Hope  they  will  all 
reach  you  before  morning.  As  you  have  2,500  men 
at  Harper's  Ferry,  where  are  the  rest  which  were  in 
that  vicinity  and  which  we  have  sent  forward  ?  Have 
any  of  them  been  cut  off?  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Secretary  Chase,  Fredericksburg,  Ya. 

War  Department,  May  25,  1802. 
It  now  appears  that  Banks  got  safely  into  Win- 
chester last  night,  and  is  this  morning  retreating  on 
Harper's  Ferry.  This  justified  the  inference  that  he 
is  pressed  by  numbers  superior  to  his  own.  I  think 
it  not  improbable  that  Ewell,  Jackson,  and  Johnson 
are  pouring  through  the  gap  they  made  day  before 
yesterday  at  Port  Royal,  making  a  dash  northward. 
It  will  be  a  very  valuable  and  very  honorable  service 
for  General  McDowell  to  cut  them  off.  I  hope  he 
will  put  all  possible  energy  and  speed  into  the  effort. 

A.  Lincoln. 


148  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

To  General  McDowell,  Manassas  Junction. 
Washington,  May  28,  18G2,  1  P.  M. 
General    McClellan,    at  6:30  p.  m.    yesterday,  tele- 
graphed that  Fitz  John  Porter's  division  had  fought 
and  driven  13,000  of  the  enemy,  under  General  Brand,- 
from   Hanover  Court-House,   and  was  driving  them 
from  a  stand  they  had  made'  on  the    railroad  at  the 
time  the  messenger  left.     Two  hours  later  he   tele- 
graphed that  Stoneman  had  captured  an  engine  and 
six  ears  on  the  Virginia  Central,  which  lie  at  once 
sent  to    communicate  with    F.  J.   Porter.     Nothing 
further  from  MeClellan. 

If  Porter  effects  a  lodgment  on  both  railroads 
near  Hanover  Court-ITouse,  eonsider  whether  your 
forces  in  front  of  Fredericksburg  should  not  push 
through  and  join  him.  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General   McClellan,  May  28,  1862. 

I  am  very  glad  of  General  F.  J.  Porter's  victory ; 
still,  if  it  was  a  total  rout  of  the  enemy,  I  am  puz- 
zled to  know  why  the  Richmond  and  Fredericksburg 
Railroad  was  not  seized  again,  as  you  say  you  have 
all  the  railroads  but  the  Richmond  and  Fredericks- 
burg. I  am  puzzled  to  see  howr,  lacking  that,  you 
can  have  any,  except  the  scrap  from  Richmond  to 
West  Point,  The  scrap  of  the  Virginia  Central, 
from  Richmond  to  Hanover  Junction,  without  more, 
is  simply  nothing. 

That  the  whole  of  the  enemy  is  concentrating  on 
Richmond,  I  think  can  not  be  certainly  known  to  you 
or  me.     Saxton,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  informs  us  that 


PEN   AND   VOICE.  149 

large  forces,  supposed  to  bo  Jackson's  and  Ewell's, 
forced  his  advance  from  Charlestown  to-day.  Gen- 
eral King  telegraphs  us  from  Fredericksburg  that 
contrabands  give  certain  information  that  15,000  left 
Hanover  Junction  Monday  morning  to  reinforce 
Jackson. 

I  am  painfully  impressed  with  the  importance  of 
the  struggle  before  you,  and  shall  aid  you  all  I  can 
consistently  with  my  view  of  the  due  regard  to  all 
points.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-Genekal  Fremont,  Moorefield,  Va. 

Washington,  May  29,  1862,  12  31. 
General  McDowell's  advance,  if  not  checked  by 
the  enemy,  should,  and  probably  will,  be  at  Front 
Royal  at  12  (noon)  to-morrow.  His  force,  when  up, 
will  be  about  20,000.  Please  have  your  force  at 
Strasburg,  or,  if  the  route  you  are  moving  on  does 
not  lead  to  that  point,  as  near  Strasburg  as  the  en- 
emy may  be  by  the  same  time.  Your  dispatch,  iSTo. 
30,  received  and  satisfactory.  A.  Lincoln. 

Message  Explanatory  of  Government  Purchases  in 

May,  1861. 

May  29,  1862. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: — The 
insurrection  which  is  yet  existing  in  the  United 
States,  and  aims  at  the  overthrow  of  the  Federal 
Constitution  and  the  Union,  was  clandestinely  pre- 
pared during  the  winter  of  1860  and  1861,  and  as- 
sumed an  open  organization  in  the  form  of  a  treason- 
able   provisional    government    at    Montgomery,   in 


150  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Alabama,  on  the  18th  day  of  February,  1861.  On 
the  12th  day  of  April,  1861,  the  insurgents  committed 
the  flagrant  act  of  civil  war  by  the  bombardment  and 
capture  of  Fort  Sumter,  which  cut  off  the  hope  of 
immediate  conciliation.  Immediately  afterward  all 
the  roads  and  avenues  to  this  city  were  obstructed, 
and  the  capital  was  put  into  the  condition  of  a  siege. 
The  mails  in  every  direction  were  stopped,  and  the 
lines  of  telegraph  cut  off  by  the  insurgents;  and 
military  and  naval  forces,  which  had  been  called  out 
by  the  government  for  the  defense  of  Washington, 
were  prevented  from  reaching  the  city  by  organized 
and  combined  treasonable  resistance  in  the  State  of 
Maryland.  There  was  no  adequate  and  effective 
organization  for  the  public  defense.  Congress  had 
indefinitely  adjourned.  There  was  no  time  to  con- 
vene them.  It  became  necessary  for.  me  to  choose 
whether,  using  only  the  existing  means,  agencies,  and 
processes  which  Congress  had  provided,  I  should  let 
the  government  fall  at  once  into  ruin,  or  whether, 
availing  myself  of  the  broader  powers  conferred  by 
the  Constitution  in  cases  of  insurrection,  1  would 
make  an  effort  to  save  it,  with  all  its  blessings,  for 
the  present  age  and  for  posterity. 

I  thereupon  summoned  my  constitutional  advisers, 
the  heads  of  all  departments,  to  meet  on  Sunday,  the 
20th  day  of  April,  1861,  at  the  office  of  the  Navy  De- 
partment, and  then  and  there,  with  their  unanimous 
concurrence,  I  directed  that  an  armed  revenue  cutter 
should  proceed  to  sea,  to  afford  protection  to  the  com- 
mercial marine,  and  especially  the  California  treasure 
ships  then  on  their  way  to  this  coast.     I  also  directed 


PEN    AND   VOICE.  151 

the  commandant  of  the  navy-yard  at  Boston  to  pur- 
chase or  charter,  and  arm  as  quickly  as  possible,  rive 
steamships,  for  purposes  of  public  defense.  I  directed 
the  commandant  of  the  navy-yard  at  Philadelphia  to 
purchase,  or  charter  and  arm,  an -equal  number  for 
the  same  purpose.  I  directed  the  commandant  at 
New  York  to  purchase,  or  charter  and  arm,  an  equal 
number.  I  directed  Commander  Grillis  to  purchase, 
or  charter  and  arm,  and  put  to  sea  two  other  vessels. 
Similar  directions  were  given  to  Commodore  DuPont, 
with  a  view  to  the  opening  of  passages  by  water  to 
and  from  the  capital.  I  directed  the  several  officers 
to  take  the  advice  and  obtain  the  aid  and  efficient 
services  in  the  matter  of  his  Excellency,  Edwin  D. 
Morgan,  the  governor  of  New  York;  or,  in  his  ab- 
sence, George  D.  Morgan,  William  M.  Evarts,  R.  M. 
Blatchford,  and  Moses  II.  Grinnell,  who  were,  by  my 
directions,  especially  empowered  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  to  act  for  his  department  in  that  crisis,  in 
matters  pertaining  to  the  forwarding  of  troops  and 
supplies  for  the  public  defense. 

On  the  same  occasion,  I  directed  that  Governor 
Morgan  and  Alexander  Cummings,  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  should  be  authorized  by  the  Secretary  of 
War,  Simon  Cameron,  to  make  all  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  the  transportation  of  troops  and  munitions 
of  war,  in  aid  and  assistance  of  the  officers  of  the 
army  of  the  United  States,  until  communication  by 
mails  and  telegraph  should  be  completely  re-estab- 
lished between  the  cities  of  AVashington  and  New 
York.     No   security  was  required   to   be   given   by 


152  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

them,  and  either  of  them  was  authorized  to  act  in 
case  of  inability  to  consult  with  the  others. 

On  the  same  occasion,  I  authorized  and  directed  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  advance,  without  requir- 
ing security,  two  millions  of  dollars  for  public  money 
to  John  A.  Dix,  George  Opdyke,  and  Richard  M, 
Blatchford,  of  New  York,  to  be  used  by  them  in 
meeting  such  requisitions  as  should  be  directly  con- 
sequent upon  the  military  and  naval  measures  neces- 
sary for  the  defense  and  support  of  the  government, 
requiring  them  only  to  act  without  compensation, 
and  to  report  their  transactions  when  duly  called 
upon.  The  several  departments  of  the  government 
at  that  time  contained  so  large  a  number  of  disloyal 
persons  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  provide 
safely,  through  official  agents  only,  for  the  perform- 
ance of  the  duties  thus  confided  to  citizens  favorably 
known  for  their  ability,  loyalty  and  patriotism. 

The  several  orders  issued  upon  these  occurrences 
were  transmitted  by  private  messengers,  who  pursued 
a  circuitous  way  to  the  seaboard  cities,  Inland,  across 
the  States  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  and  the  north- 
ern lakes.  I  believe  that  by  these  and  other  similar 
measures  taken  in  that  crisis,  some  of  which  were 
without  any  authority  of  law,  the  government  was 
saved  from  overthrow.  I  am  not  aware  that  a  dollar 
of  the  public  funds  thus  confided  without  authority 
of  law,  to  unofficial  persons  was  either  lost  or  wasted, 
although  apprehension  of  such  misdirection  occurred 
to  me  as  objections  to  those  extraordinary  proceed- 
ings, and  were  necessarily  overruled. 

I  recall  these  transactions  now  because  my  atten- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  153 

tion  lias  been  directed  to  a  resolution  which  was 
passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  on  the  30th 
day  of  last  mouth,  which  is  in  these  words: 

Resolved,  That  Simon  Cameron,  late  Secretary  of 
War,  by  investing  Alexander  Cuinmings  with  the 
control  of  large  sums  of  the  public  money,  and  au- 
thority to  purchase  military  supplies  without  restric- 
tion, without  requiring  from  him  any  guarantee  for 
the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties,  when  the  serv- 
ices of  competent  public  officers  were  available,  and 
by  involving  the  government  in  a  vast  number  of 
contracts  with  persons  not  legitimately  engaged  in 
the  business  pertaining  to  the  subject-matter  of  such 
contracts,  especially  in  the  purchase  of  arms  for  future 
delivery,  has  adopted  a  policy  highly  injurious  to  the 
public  service,  and  deserves  the  censure  of  the  house. 

Congress  will  see  that  I  should  be  wanting  equally 
in  candor  and  in  justice,  if  I  should  leave  the  censure 
expressed  in  this  resolution  to  rest  exclusively  or 
chiefly  upon  Mr.  Cameron.  The  same  sentiment  is 
unanimously  entertained  by  the  heads  of  departments, 
who  participated  in  the  proceedings  which  the  House 
of  Representatives  has  censured.  It  is  due  to  Mr. 
Cameron  to  say  that,  although  he  fully  approved  the 
proceedings,  they  were  not  moved  or  suggested  by 
himself,  and  that  not  only  the  President  but  all  the 
other  heads  of  departments  were  at  least  equally  re- 
sponsible with  him  for  whatever  error,  wrong,  or  fault 
was  committed  in  the  premises. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


154  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington,  May  31,  1862. 

A  circle  whose  circumference  shall  pass  through 
Harper's  Ferry,  Front  Royal  and  Strasburg,  and 
whose  center  shall  be  a  little  north  east  of  Winchester, 
almost  certainly  has  within  it  this  morning  the  forces 
of  Jackson,  Ewell  and  Edward  Johnson.  Quite  cer- 
tainly they  were  within  it  two  days  ago.  Some  part 
of  their  forces  attacked  Harper's  Ferry  at  dark  last 
evening,  and  are  still  in  sight  this  morning.  Shields, 
with  McDowells  advance,  took  Front  Royal  a  11  a.  m- 
yesterday,  with  a  dozen  of  our  own  prisoners  taken 
there  a  week  ago,  150  of  the  enemy,  two  locomotives 
and  eleven  cars,  some  other  property  and  stores,  and 
saved  the  bridge. 

General  Fremont,  from  the  direction  of  Moorefield, 
promises  to  be  at  or  near  Strasburg  at  5  P.  m.  to-day. 
General  Banks  at  Williamsport  with  his  old  force, 
and  his  new  force  at  Harper's  Ferry,  is  directed  to  co- 
operate. Shields,  at  Front  Royal,  reports  a  rumor  of 
still  an  additional  force  of  the  enemy,  supposed  to  be 
at  Anderson's,  having  entered  the  valley  of  Virginia. 
This  last  may  or  may  not  be  true.  Corinth  is  certain- 
ly in  the  hands  of  General  Halleck.         A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 
War  Deft,  Washington  City,  June  1,  1862,  5  P.  M. 
Thanks  for  what  you  could  and  did  say  in  your  dis- 
patch of  noon  to-day  to  the  Secretary  of  War.  If  the 
enemy  shall  not  have  renewed  the  attack  this  after- 
noon, I  think  the  hardest  of  your  work  is  done. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  155 

Shields's  advance  came  in  collision  with  part  of  the 
enemy  yesterday  evening  six  miles  from  Front  Royal, 
in  a  direction  between  Winchester  and  Strasburg, 
driving  them  back,  capturing  a  few  prisoners  and  one 
rifled  cannon.  Firing  in  that  direction  to-day  heard 
both  from  Harper's  Ferry  and  Front  Royal,  indicate 
a  probability  that  Fremont  has  met  the  enemy. 

We  have  concluded  to  send  General  Sigel  to 
Harper's  Ferry,  so  that  what  I  telegraphed  you  about 
him  this  morning  is  revoked.  Dix  goes  to  Fort 
Monroe  to-night.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Fremont. 

Washington,  June  9,  1862. 
Halt  at  Harrisonburg,  pursuing  Jackson  no  farther. 
Get  your  force  well  in  hand  and  stand  on  the  defen- 
sive,  guarding  against  a  movement  of  the  enemy  back 
toward  Strasburg  or  Franklin,  and  wait  further  orders, 
which  will  soon  be  sent  you.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont. 

Washington,  June  12,  1862. 
Yours  preferring  Mount  Jackson  to  Harrisonburg, 
is  just  received.  On  this  point  use  your  discretion, 
remembering  that  our  object  is  to  give  such  protection 
as  you  can  to  Western  Virginia.  Many  thanks  to 
yourself,  officers,  and  men  for  the  gallant  battle  of 
last  Sunday.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont. 

Washington,  June  13,  1862. 
We  can  not  afford  to  keep  your  force  and  Banks's 
and  McDowell's  engaged  in  keeping  Jackson  south  of 


156  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Strasburg  and  Front  Royal.  You  fought  .Jackson 
alone  and  worsted  him.  lie  can  have  no  substantial 
re-inforcements  so  long  as  a  battle  is  pending  at  Rich- 
mond. Surely  you  and  Banks  in  supporting  distance, 
are  capable  of  keeping  him  from  returning  to  Win- 
chester. But  if  Sigel  be  sent  forward  to  you  and 
McDowell  (as  he  must  be  put  to  other  work),  Jackson 
will  break  through  at  Front  Royal  again.  He  is  al- 
ready on  the  right  side  of  the  Shenandoah  to  do  it, 
and  on  the  wrong  side  of  it  to  attack  you.  The  orders 
already  sent  you  and  Banks  place  you  and  him  in  the 
proper  position  for  the  work  assigned  you.  Jackson 
can  not  move  his  whole  force  on  either  of  you  before 
the  other  can  learn  of  it  and  go  to  his  assistance.  He 
can  not  divide  his  force,  sending  part  against  each  of 
you,  because  lie  will  be  too  weak  for  either.  Please 
do  as  I  directed  in  the  order  of  the  8th,  and  my  dis- 
patch of  yesterday,  the  12th,  and  neither  you  or  Banks 
will  be  overwhelmed  by  Jackson.  By  proper  scout 
lookouts,  and  beacons  of  smoke  by  day  and  fires  by 
night,  you  can  always  have  timely  notice  of  the  ene- 
mj-'s  approach.  I  know  not  as  to  you,  but  by  some 
this  has  been  too  much  neglected.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont. 

War  Dep't,  Washington  City,  D.  C,  June  15, 1862. 

My  dear  sir: — Your  letter  of  the  12th,  by  Colonel 
Zagonyi,  is  just  received.  In  answer  to  the  principal 
part  of  it,  I  repeat  the  substance  of  an  order  of  the 
8th,  and  one  or  two  telegraphic  dispatches  sent  you 
since. 

We  have  no  indefinite  power  of  sending  reinforce- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  157 

ments,  so  that  we  are  compelled  rather  to  consider 
the  proper  disposal  of  the  forces  we  have  than  of 
those  we  could  wish  to  have.  We  may  be  able  to 
send  you  some  dribs  by  degrees,  but  I  do  not  believe 
we  can  do  more.  As  you  alone  beat  Jackson  last 
Sunday,  I  argue  that  you  arc  stronger  than  he  is  to- 
day, unless  he  has  been  reinforced,  and  that  he  can 
not  have  been  materially  reinforced,  because  such  re- 
inforcement  could  only  have  come  from  Richmond, 
and  he  is  much  more  likely  to  go  to  Richmond  than 
Richmond  is  to  come  to  him.  Neither  is  very  likely. 
I  think  Jackson's  game — his  assigned  work — now  is 
to  magnify  the  accounts  of  his  number  and  reports 
of  his  movements,  and  thus,  by  constant  alarms,  to 
keep  three  or  four  times  as  many  of  our  troops  away 
from  Richmond  as  his  own  force  amounts  to. 

Thus  he  helps  his  friends  at  Richmond  three  or 
four  times  as  much  as  if  he  were  there.  Our  irame 
is  not  to  allow  this.  Accordingly,  by  the  order  of 
the  8th,  I  directed  you  to  halt  at  Harrisonburg,  rest 
your  force,  and  get  it  well  in  hand,  the  object  being 
t<>  guard  against  Jackson's  returning  by  the  same 
route  to  the  Upper  Potomac,  over  which  you  have 
just  driven  him  out,  and  at  the  same  time  give  some 
protection  against  a  raid  into  West  Virginia.  Al- 
ready I  have  given  you  discretion  to  occupy  Mount 
Jackson  instead,  if,  on  full  consideration,  you  think 
best.  I  do  not  believe  Jackson  will  attack  you,  but 
certainly  he  can  not  attack  you  by  surprise;  and  if 
he  comes  upon  you  in  superior  force,  you  have 
but  to  notify  us,  fall  back  cautiously,  and  Banks  will 
join    you    in    due    time.      But,  while    we   know  not 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

whether  Jackson  will  move  at  all,  or  by  what  route, 
we  can  not  safely  put  you  and  Banks  both  on  the 
Strasburg  line,  and  have  no  force  on  the  Front  Royal 
line,  upon  which  he  prosecuted  his  last  raid.  The 
true  policy  is  to  place  one  of  you  on  one  line,  and  the 
other  on  the  other,  in  such  position  that  you  can 
unite  on  either,  once  you  actually  find  Jackson  mov- 
ing upon  it.  And  this  is  precisely  what  we  are 
doing. 

This  protects  that  part  of  our  frontier,  so  to  speak, 
and  liberates  McDowell  to  go  to  the  assistance  of 
McClellan.  I  have  arranged  this,  and  am  very  un- 
willing to  have  it  deranged.  While  you  have  only 
asked  for  Sigel,  I  have  spoken  only  of  Banks,  and 
this  because  Sigel's  force  is  now  the  principal  part  of 
Banks's  force.  About  transferring  General  Schenck's 
command,  the  purchase  of  supplies,  and  the  promo- 
tion and  appointment  of  officers  mentioned  in  your 
letter,  I  will  consult  with  the  Secretary  of  War  to- 
morrow. Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Fremont,  Mount  Jackson,  Va. 

Washington,  June  16,  1862. 

Your  dispatch  of  yesterday,  reminding  me  of  a 
supposed  understanding  that  I  would  furnish  you  a 
corps  of  35,000  men,  and  asking  of  me  the  "  fulfill- 
ment of  this  understanding"  is  received.  I  am  ready 
to  come  to  a  fair  settlement  of  accounts  with  you  on 
the  fulfillment  of  understandings. 

Early  in  March  last,  when  I  assigned  you  to  the 
command  of  the  Mountain  Department,  I  did  tell 
you  I  would  give  you  all  the  force  I  could,  and  that  I 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  159 

hoped  to  make  it  reach  35,000.  You  at  the  same 
time  told  me  that  within  a  reasonable  time  you  would 
seize  the  railroad  at  or  east  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee, 
it'  you  could.  There  was  then  in  the  department  a 
force  supposed  to  be  25,000,  the  exact  number  as  well 
known  to  you  as  to  me.  After  looking  about  two  or 
days,  you  called,  and  distinctly  told  me  that  if  1 
would  add  the  Bleuker  division  to  the  force  already 
in  the  department,  you  would  undertake  the  job. 
The  Blenker  division  contained  10,000,  and,  at  the 
expense  of  great  dissatisfaction  to  General  McClellan 
I  took  it  from  his  army,  and  gave  it  to  you.  My 
promise  was  literally  fulfilled.  I  have  given  you  all 
I  could,  and  I  have  given  you  very  nearly,  if  not 
quite,  85,000.  Now  for  yours :  On  the  23d  of  May, 
largely  over  two  months  afterward,  you  were  at 
Franklin,  Virginia,  not  within  300  miles  of  Knox- 
ville, nor  within  eighty  miles  of  any  part  of  the  rail- 
road east  of  it,  and  not  moving  forward,  but  telegraph- 
ing here  that  you  could  not  move  for  lack  of  every 
thing.  Now,  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  do  not 
say  you  have  not  done  all  you  could.  I  presume  you 
met  unexpected  difficulties;  and  I  beg  you  to  be- 
lieve that,  as  surely  as  you  have  done  your  best,  so 
have  I.  I  have  not  the  power  now  to  till  up  your 
corps  to  35,000.  I  am  not  demanding  of  you  to  do 
the  work  of  35,000.  I  am  only  asking  of  you  to 
stand  cautiously  on  the  defensive,  get  your  force  in 
order,  and  give  such  protection  as  you  can  to  the 
valley  of  the  Shenandoah  and  to  Western  Virginia. 

Have  you  received  the   orders,  and  will  you  act 
upon  them  ?  A.  Lincoln. 


160  Abraham  Lincoln's 

To  Brigadier-General  Schurz,  Mount  Jackson,  Va. 

Washington,  June  16, 1862. 
Your  long  letter  is  received.  The  information  you 
give  is  valuable.  You  say  it  is  fortunate  that  Fre- 
mont did  not  intercept  Jackson;  that  Jackson  had  a 
superior  force,  and  would  have  overwhelmed  him. 
If  this  is  so,  how  happened  it  that  Fremont  fairly 
fought  and  routed  him  on  the  8th?  Or  is  the  account 
that  he  did  fight  and  rout  him  false  and  fabricated? 
Both  General  Fremont  and  you  speak  of  Jackson 
having  beaten  Shields.  By  our  accounts  he  did  not 
beat  Shields.  lie  had  no  engagement  with  Shields. 
He  did  meet  and  drive  back  with  disaster  about  2,000 
of  Shields's  advance  till  they  were  met  by  an  addi- 
tional brigade  of  Shields's,  when  Jackson  himself 
turned  and  retreated.  Shields  himself  and  more  than 
half  his  force  were  not  nearer  than  twenty  miles  to 
any  of  it.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington  City,  June  20, 1862. 

We  have  this  morning  sent  you  a  dispatch  of  Gen- 
eral Sigel,  corroborative  of  the  proposition  that  Jack- 
son is  being  re-inforced  from  Richmond.  This  may 
be  reality  and  yet  may  be  only  contrivance  for  decep- 
tion, and  to  determine  which,  is  perplexing.  If  we 
knew  it  was  not  true,  we  could  send  you  some  more 
force,  but  as  the  case  stands  Ave  do  not  think  we  safely 
can.  Still,  we  will  watch  the  signs  and  do  so  if  pos- 
sible. 

In  regard  to  a  contemplated  execution  of  Captains 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  161 

Sprigg  and  Triplett,  the  government  has  no  informa- 
tion whatever,  but  will  inquire  and  advise  yon. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  McClellan. 

Washington,  June  21, 1862,  6  P.M. 
Your  dispatch  of  yesterday  (2  p.  m.)  was  received 
this  morning.  If  it  would  not  divert  too  much  of 
your  time  and  attention  from  the  army  under  your 
immediate  command,  I  would  be  glad  to  have  your 
views  as  to  the  present  state  of  military  affairs 
throughout  the  whole  country,  as  you  say  you  would 
be  glad  to  give  them.  I  would  rather  it  should  be 
by  letter  than  by  telegraph,  because  of  the  better 
chance  of  secrecy.  As  to  the  numbers  and  position 
of  the  troops  not  under  your  command  in  Virginia 
and  elsewhere,  even  if  I  could  do  so  with  accuracy, 
which  I  can  not,  I  would  rather  not  transmit  either 
by  telegraph  or  letter,  because  of  the  chances  of  its 
reaching  the  enemy.  I  would  be  glad  to  talk  with 
you,  but  you  can  not  leave  your  camp  and  I  can  not 
well  leave  here.  A.  Lincoln. 

Presidential  Orders. 

Executive  Ma?ision,  Washington,  June  22,1862. 
Ordered,  First.  The  forces  under  Major-Generals 
Fremont,  Banks,  and  McDowell,  including  the  troops 
now  under  Brigadier-General  Sturges  at  Washing- 
ton, shall  be  consolidated  and  form  one  army,  to  be 
called  the  Army  of  Virginia. 

Second.     The  command  of  the  Army  of  Virginia 
14 


162  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

i 

is  specially  assigned  to  Major-General  John  Pope,  as 
commanding  general.  The  troops  of  the  Mountain 
Department,  heretofore  under  command  of  General 
Fremont,  shall  constitute  the  First  Army  Corps,  un- 
der the  command  of  General  Fremont ;  the  troops 
of  the  Shenandoah  Department,  now  under  General 
Banks,  shall  constitute  the  Second  Army  Corps,  and 
be  commanded  by  him  ;  the  troops  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  McDowell,  except  those  within  the 
fortifications  and  city  of  Washington,  shall  form  the 
Third  Army  Corps,  and  be  under  his  command. 

Third.  The  Army  of  Virginia  shall  operate  in 
such  manner  as,  while  protecting  Western  Virginia 
and  the  National,  capital  from  danger  or  insult,  it 
shall  in  the  speediest  manner  attack  and  overcome 
the  rebel  forces  under  Jackson  and  Ewell,  threaten 
the  enemy  in  the  direction  of  Charlottesville,  and 
render  the  most  effective  aid  to  relieve  General  Mc- 
Clellan  and  capture  Richmond. 

Fourth.  When  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  the 
Army  of  Virginia  shall  be  in  a  position  to  communi- 
cate and  directly  co-operate  at  or  before  Richmond, 
the  chief  command,  while  so  co-operating  together, 
shall  be  governed,  as  in  like  cases,  by  the  Pules  and 
Articles  of  War.  A.  Lincoln 

To  General  McClellan. 

June  26,  1862.  ' 
Your  three  dispatches  of  yesterday,  in  relation  to 
the  affair,  ending  with  the  statement  that  you  com- 
pletely  succeeded  in   making   your   point,  are    very 
gratifying.     The  later  one,  of  Q\  ?•  M.,  suggesting  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  163 

probability  of  your  being  overwhelmed  by  two  hun- 
dred thousand  men,  and  talking  of  whom  the  respon- 
sibility will  belong  to,  pains  me  very  much.  I  give 
you  all  I  can,  and  act  on  the  presumption  that  you 
will  do  the  best  you  can  with  what  you  have;  while 
you  continue,  ungenerously,  I  think,  to  assume  that 
I  could  give  you  more  if  I  would.  I  have  omitted,  I 
shall  omit,  no  opportunity  to  send  you  re-inforce- 
nients  whenever  I  possibly  can.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  McClellan. 

June  28,  1862. 
Save  your  army  at  all  events.  Will  send  re-info  rce- 
ments  as  fast  as  we  can.  Of  course,  they  can  not 
reach  you  to-day,  to-morrow  or  next  day.  I  have 
not  said  that  you  were  ungenerous  for  saying  you 
needed  re-inforcements.  I  thought  you  were  ungen- 
erous in  assumino;  that  I  did  not  send  them  as  fast  as 
I  could.  I  feel  any  misfortune  to  you  and  your  army 
as  keenly  as  you  feel  it  yourself.  If  you  have  had  a 
drawn  battle  or  a  repulse,  it  is  the  price  we  pay  for 
the  enemy  not  being  in  Washington.  AVe  protected 
Washington,  and  the  enemy  concentrated  on  you. 
Had  we  stripped  Washington,  he  would  have  been 
upon  us  before  the  troops  sent  could  have  got  to  you. 
Less  than  a  week  ago  you  notified  us  that  re-inforce- 
ments were  leaving  Richmond  to  come  in  front  of  us. 
It  is  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  neither  you  nor  the 
government  is  to  blame.  A.  Lincoln. 


164  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

Hon.  William  H.  Seward,  Astor  House,  New  York. 
War  Department,  June  29,  1862,  6  P.  M. 

Not  much  more  than  when  you  left.  Fulton,  of 
Baltimore  American,  is  now  with  us.  He  left  White 
House  at  11  a.  m.  yesterday.  He  conversed  fully  with 
a  paymaster,  who  was  with  Porter's  force  during  the 
fight  of  Friday,  and  fell  back  to  nearer  McClellan's 
quarters  just  a  little  sooner  than  Porter  did,  seeing 
the  whole  of  it.  Staid  on  the  Richmond  side  of  the 
Chickahominy  over  night,  and  left  for  White  House  nt 
live  a.  m.  Saturday.  He  says  Porter  retired  in  per- 
fect order  under  protection  of  guns  arranged  for  the 
purpose,  under  orders,  and  not  from  necessity,  and 
with  all  others  of  our  forces,  except  what  was  left  on 
purpose  to  go  to  White  House,  was  safely  in  position 
over  the  Chickahominy  before  morning,  and  that 
there  was  heavy  firing  on  the  Richmond  side,  begun 
at  5  and  ceased  at  7  a.  m.,  Saturday.  On  the  whole? 
I  think  we  have  had  the  better  of  it  up  to  that  point 
of  time.  What  has  happened  sin.-c  we  still  know 
not,  as  we  have  no  communication  with  General  Mc- 
Clellan.  A  dispatch  from  Colonel  Ingalls  shows  that 
he  thinks  McClellan  is  fighting  with  the  enemy  at 
Richmond  to-day,  and  will  be  to-morrow. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  upon  what  Colonel 
Ingalls  founds  his  opinion.  All  confirmed  about  sav- 
ing all  property.  Not  a  single  unwounded  straggler 
came  back  to  the  White  House  from  the  field,  and 
the  number  of  wounded  reaching  there  up  to  11  a.  m.5 
Saturday,  was  not  large.  A.  Lincoln. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  165 

Hon.  William  II.  Seward,  New  York. 

War  Department,  June  30,  1862. 

We  are  yet  without  communication  with  General 
McClellan,  and  this  absence  of  news  is  our  point  of 
anxiety. 

Up  to  the  latest  period  to  which  we  are  posted  he 
effected  every  thing  in  such  exact  accordance  with 
his  plan,  contingently  announced  to  us  before  the 
battle  began,  that  we  feel  justified  to  hope  that  he  has 
not  failed  since. 

He  had  a  severe  engagement  in  getting  the  part  of 
his  army  on  this  side  of  the  Chickahominy  over  to 
the  other  side,  in  which  the  enemy  lost  certainly  as 
much  as  we  did. 

We  are  not  dissatisfied  with  this,  only  that  the  loss 
of  enemies  does  not  compensate  for  the  loss  of  friends. 
The  enemy  can  not  come  below  White  House ;  cer- 
tainly is  not  there  now,  and  probably  has  abandoned 
the  whole  line. 

Dix's  pickets  are  at  New  Kent  Court-house. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Major-General  Hunter. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jane  30,  1862. 

My  Dear  General: — I  have  just  received  your  letter 
of  the  25th  of  June. 

I  assure  you,  and  you  may  feel  authorized  in  stat- 
ing, that  the  recent  change  of  commanders  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Soutb  was  made  for  no  reasons  which 
convey  any  imputation  upon  your  known  energy,  effi- 
ciency and  patriotism,  but  for  causes  which  seemed 


166  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

sufficient,  while  they  were  in  no  degree  incompatible 
with  the  respect  and  esteeem  in  which  I  have  always 
held  you  as  a  man  and  an  officer. 

I  can  not,  by  giving  my  consent  to  a  publication  of 
whose  details  I  know  nothing,  assume  the  responsi- 
bility of  whatever  you  may  write.  In  this  matter 
your  own  sense  of  military  propriety  must  be  your 
guide,  and  the  regulation  of  the  service  your  rule  of 
conduct.     I  am,  very  truly,  your  friend, 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-Gexeral  Dix,  Fort  Monroe. 

War  Department,   Washington  City,  June  30,  1802. 

Is  it  not  probable  the  enemy  has  abandoned  the 
line  between  White  House  and  McClellan's  rear  ? 

He  could  have  but  little  object  to  maintain  it,  and 
nothing  to  subsist  upon.  Would  not  Stoneman  better 
move  up  and  see  about  it?  I  think  a  telegraphic 
communication  can  at  once  be  opened  to  White 
House  from  Williamsburg.  The  wires  must  be  up 
still.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  McClellax,  July  1,  1862. 

It  is  impossible  to  re-inforce  you  for  your  present 
emergency.  If  we  had  a  million  of  men  we  could 
not  get  them  to  you  in  time.  We  have  not  the  men 
to  send.  If  you  are  not  strong  enough  to  face  the 
enemy,  you  must  find  a  place  of  security,  and  wait, 
rest  and  repair.  Maintain  your  ground  if  you  can, 
but  save  the  army  at  all  events,  even  if  you  fall  back, 
to  Fort  Monroe.  We  stilL  have  strength  enough  in 
the  country,  and  will  bring  it  out.  A.  Lincoln. 


PEN   AND   VOICE.  167 

Letter  to  McClellan,  July  2,  18G2. 

Your  dispatch  of  yesterday  induces  me  to  hope 
that  your  army  is  having  some  rest.  In  the  hope, 
allow  me  to  reason  with  you  for  a  moment.  When 
you  ask  for  50,000  men  to  he  promptly  sent  you,  you 
surely  labor  under  some  gross  mistake  of  fact.  Re- 
cently you  sent  papers  showing  your  disposal  of  forces 
made  last  spring  for  the  defense  of  Washington,  and 
advising  a  return  to  that  plan.  I  find  it  included,  in 
and  about  Washington,  75,000  men. 

Now,  please  be  assured  that  I  have  not  men  enough 
to  fill  that  very  plan  by  15,000.  All  of  General  Fre- 
mont's in  the  valley,  all  of  General  Banks',  all  of  Gen- 
eral McDowell's  not  with  you,  and  all  in  Washington 
taken  together,  do  not  exceed,  if  they  reach,  60,000. 

With  General  Wool  and  General  Dix  added  to 
those  mentioned,  I  have  not,  outside  of  your  army, 
75,000  men  east  of  the  mountains.  Thus,  the  idea 
of  sending  you  50,000,  or  any  other  considerable  force 
promptly,  is  simply  absurd.  If,  in  your  frequent 
mention  of  responsibility,  you  have  the  impression 
that  I  blame  you  for  not  doing  more  than  you  can, 
please  be  relieved  of  such  impression.  I  only  beg 
that  in  like  manner,  you  will  not  ask  impossibilities 
of  me. 

If  you  think  }'ou  are  not  strong  enough  to  take 
Richmond  just  now,  I  do  not  ask  you  to  try  just 
now.  Save  the  army,  material  and  personnel,  and  1 
will  strengthen  it  for  the  offensive  again  as  fast  as  I 
can. 


168  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S       . 

The  governors  of  eighteen  states  offer  me  a  new 
levy  of  300,000,  which  I  accept.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Halleck,  Corinth,  Miss. 
War  Department,  July  2,  1862. 
Your  several  dispatches  of  yesterday  to  Secretary 
of  War  and  myself  received.  I  did  say,  and  now  re- 
peat, I  would  be  exceedingly  glad  for  some  reinforce- 
ments from  you;  still,  do  not  send  a  man  if,  in  your 
judgment,  it  will  endanger  any  point  you  deem  im- 
portant to  hold,  or  will  force  you  to  give  up  or  weaken 
or  delay  the  Chattanooga  expedition.  Please  tell  me, 
could  you  make  me  a  Hying  visit  for  consultation 
without  endangering  the  service  in  your  department? 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  George  B.  McClellan. 
War  Department,  Washington,  July  3, 1862. 

Yours  of  5:30  yesterday  is  just  received.  I  am  sat- 
isfied that  yourself,  officers  and  men  have  done  the 
best  you  could.  All  accounts  say  better  fighting  was 
never  done.     Ten  thousand  thanks  for  it. 

On  the  28th  we  sent  General  Burnside  an  order  to 
send  all  the  force  he  could  spare  to  yon.  We  then 
learned  that  you  had  requested  him  to  go  to  Golds- 
borough  ;  upon  which  we  said  to  him  our  order  was 
intended  for  your  benefit,  and  we  did  not  wish  to  be 
in  conflict  with  your  views.  We  hope  you  will  have 
help  from  him  soon.  To-day  we  have  ordered  Gen- 
eral Hunter  to  send  you  all  he  can  spare.  At  last 
advice  General  Hunter  thinks  he  can  not  send  re  in- 
forcements  without  endangering  all  he  has  gained. 

A.  Lincoln,  President. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  169 

To  Governor  Morton. 

July  3, 1862. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  would  not  want  the  half  of  300,- 
000  new  troops  if  I  could  have  them  now.  If  I  had 
50,000  additional  troops  here  now  I  believe  I  could 
substantially  close  the  war  in  two  weeks  ;  but  time  is 
every  thing,  and  if  I  get  the  50,000  new  men  in  a 
month  I  shall  have  lost  20,000  old  ones  during  that 
same  month,  having  gained  only  30,000,  with  the  dif- 
ference between  old  and  new  troops  still  against  me. 
The  quicker  you  raise  the  troops  the  fewer  you  will 
have  to  send,  and  time  is  every  thing.  Please  act  in 
view  of  this.  The  enemy  having  given  up  Corinth, 
it  is  not  wonderful  that  he  is  thereby  enabled  to  check 
us  for  a  time  at  Richmond.  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  McClellan. 

War  Deft,  Washington  City,  July  4,  1862. 

I  understand  your  position  as  stated  in  your  letter, 
and  by  General  Marcy.  To  re-inforce  you  so  as  to 
enable  you  to  resume  the  offensive  within  a  month, 
or  even  six  weeks,  is  impossible.  In  addition  to  that 
arrived  and  now  arriving  from  the  Potomac  (about 
10,000  men,  I  suppose),  and  about  10,000, 1  hope,  you 
will  have  from  Burnside  very  soon,  and  about  5,000 
from  Hunter  a  little  later,  I  do  not  see  how  I  can 
send  you  another  man  within  a  month.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  defensive,  for  the  present,  must  be 
your  only  care. 

Save  the  army,  first,  where  you  are,  if  you  can; 
and  secondly,  by  removal  if  you  must.  You,  on  the 
15 


170  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

ground,  must  be  the  judge  as  to  which  you  will  at- 
tempt, and  of  the  means  for  effecting  it.  I  hut  give 
it  as  my  opinion,  that  with  the  aid  of  the  gunboats 
and  the  re-inforcements  mentioned  above,  you  can 
hold  your  present  position ;  provided,  and  so  long 
as  you  can  keep  the  James  river  open  below  you. 
If  you  are  not  tolerably  confident  you  can  keep  the 
James  river  open  you  had  better  remove  as  soon  as 
possible.  I  do  not  remember  that  you  have  expressed 
any  apprehension  as  to  the  danger  of  having  your 
communication  cut  on  the  river  below  you,  yet  I  do 
not  suppose  it  can  have  escaped  your  attention. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  IIalleck,  Corinth,  Miss. 
War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  July  G,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — This  introduces  Governor  William 
Sprague,  of  Rhode  Island.  He  is  now  governor  for 
the  third  time  and  senator  elect  of  the  United  States. 
I  know  the  object  of  his  visit  to  you.  He  has  my 
cheerful  consent  to  go,  but  not  my  direction.  He 
wishes  to  get  you  and  part  of  your  force,  one  or  both, 
to  come  here.  You  already  know  I  should  be  exceed- 
ingly glad  of  this,  if  in  your  judgment,  it  could  be, 
without  endangering  positions  and  operations  in  the 
south-west,  and  I  now  repeat  what  I  have  more  than 
once  said  by  telegraph  on  this  point:  "  Do  not  come  or 
send  a  man  if  in  your  judgment  it  will  endanger  any 
point  you  deem  important  to  hold  or  endanger  or 
delay  the  Chattanooga  expedition."  Still,  please  give 
my  friend  Governor  Sprague  a  full  and  fair  hearing. 
Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  171 


To  Hon.  Andrew  Johnson. 

War  Department,  July  11,  1862. 

31y  Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  yesterday  is  received.  Do 
you  not,  my  good  friend,  perceive  that  what  you  ask 
is  simply  to  put  you  in  command  of  the  West?  I  do 
not  suppose  you  desire  this.  You  only  wish  to  control 
in  your  own  localities  ;  but  this  you  must  know  may 
derange  all  other  posts. 

Can  you  not,  and  will  you  not  have  a  full  conference 
with  General  Halleck  ?  Telegraph  him  and  meet  him 
at  such  place  as  you  and  he  can  agree  upon. 

I  telegraph  him  to  meet  you  and  confer  fully  with 
you.  A.  Lincoln. 

Address   to   the    Senators  and  Representatives  of 
the  Border  States. 

July,  18G2. 

Gentlemen  : — After  the  adjournment  of  Congress, 
now  near,  I  shall  have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  you 
for  several  months.  Believing  that  you  of  the  border 
states  hold  more  power  for  good  than  any  other  equal 
number  of  members,  I  feel  it  a  duty  which  I  can  not 
justifiably  waive  to  make  this  appeal  to  you. 

I  intend  no  reproach  or  complaint  when  I  assure 
you  that,  in  my  opinion,  if  you  all  bad  voted  for  the 
resolution  in  the  gradual  emancipation  message  of  last 
March,  the  war  would  now  be  substantially  ended. 

And  the  plan  therein  proposed  is  yet  one  of  the  most 
potent  and  swift  means  of  ending  it.  Let  the  states 
which  are  in  rebellion  see  definitely  and  certainly  that 
in  no  event  will  the  states  you  represent  ever  join 


172  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

their  proposed  confederacy,  and  tliey  can  not  much 
longer  maintain  the  contest.  But  you  can  not  divest 
them  of  their  hope  to  ultimately  have  you  with  them, 
as  long  as  you  show  a  determination  to  perpetuate 
the  institution  within  your  own  states  ;  heat  them  at 
election  as  vou  have  overwhelmingly  done  and  nothing 
daunted,  they  still  claim  you  as  their  own.  You  and 
I  know  what  the  lever  of  their  power  is.  Break  that 
lever  before  their  faces,  and  they  can  shake  you  no 
more  forever.  Most  of  you  have  treated  me  with 
kindness  and  consideration  ;  and  I  trust  you  will  not 
now  think  I  improperly  touch  what  is  exclusively 
your  own,  when  for  the  sake  of  the  whole  country,  I 
ask,  can  you,  for  your  states,  do  better  than  to  take 
the  course  I  urge  ?  Discarding  punctilio  and  maxims 
adapted  to  more  manageahle  times,  and  looking  only 
to  the  unprecedently  stern  facts  of  our  case,  can  you 
do  better  in  any  possible  event  ?  You  prefer  that  the 
constitutional  relation  of  the  states  to  the  nation  shall 
be  practically  restored  without  disturbance  of  the  in- 
stitution ;  and  if  this  were  done,  my  whole  duty,  in  this 
respect,  under  the  constitution  and  my  oath  of  office, 
would  be  performed.  But  it  is  not  done,  and  we  are 
trying  to  accomplish  it  by  war. 

The  incidents  of  the  war  can  not  be  avoided.  If 
the  war  continues  long,  as  it  must  if  the  object  be  not 
sooner  attained,  the  institution  in  your  states,  will  be 
extinguished  by  mere  friction  and  abrasion — by  the 
mere  incidents  of  the  war.  It  will  be  gone,  and  you 
will  have  nothing  valuable  in  lieu  of  it.  Much  of  its 
value  is  gone  already.  How  much  better  for  you  and 
your  people,  to  take  the  step  which  at  once  shortens 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  173 

the  war,  and  secures  substantial  compensation  for  that 
which  is  sure  to  be  wholly  lost  in  any  other  event. 
How  much  better  to  thus  save  the  money  which  else 
we  sink  forever  in  the  war.  How  much  better  to  do 
it  while  we  can,  lest  the  war  ere  long  render  us  pe- 
cuniarily unable  to  do  it.  How  much  better  for  you, 
as  seller,  and  the  nation,  as  buyer,  to  sell  out  and  buy 
out,  that  without  which  the  war  never  could  have 
been,  than  to  sink  both  the  thing  to  be  sold  and  the 
price  of  it  in  cutting  one  another's  throats.  I  do  not 
speak  of  emancipation  at  once,  but  of  a  decision  at 
once  to  emancipate  gradually. 

Room  in  South  America  for  colonization  can  be  ob- 
tained cheaply,  and  in  abundance;  and  when  numbers 
shall  be  large  enough  to  be  company  and  encourage- 
ment for  one  another,  the  freed  people  will  not  be  so 
reluctant  to  go. 

I  am  pressed  with  a  difficulty  not  yet  mentioned 
one  which  threatens  division  among  those  who,  united, 
are  none  too  strong.  An  instance  of  it  is  known  to 
you.  General  Hunter  is  an  honest  man.  He  was, 
and  I  hope  still  is,  my  friend.  I  valued  him  none  the 
less  for  his  agreeing  with  me  in  the  general  wish  that 
all  men  every-where  could  be  free.  He  proclaimed  all 
men  free  within  certain  states,  and  I  repudiated  the 
proclamation.  He  expected  more  good  and  less  harm 
from  the  measure  than  I  could  believe  would  follow. 
Yet,  in  repudiating  it,  I  gave  dissatisfaction,  if  not 
offense,  to  many  whose  support  the  country  can  not 
afford  to  lose.  And  this  is  not  the  end  of  it.  Tbe 
pressure  in  this  direction  is  still  upon  me,  and  is  in- 
creasing.     By  conceding  what  I  now  ask,  you  can 


174  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

relieve  me,  and,  much  more,  can  relieve  the  country 
in  this  important  point. 

Upon  these  considerations  I  have  again  begged 
your  attention  to  the  message  of  March  last. 

Before  leaving  the  capital,  consider  and  discuss  it 
among  yourselves.  You  are  patriots  and  statesmen, 
and  as  such,  I  pray  you  consider  this  proposition  ; 
and  at  the  least,  commend  it  to  the  consideration  of 
your  states  and  people.  As  you  would  perpetuate 
popular  government,  for  the  best  people  in  the  world, 
I  beseech  you  that  you  do  in  no  wise  omit  this. 

Our  common  country  is  in  great  peril,  demanding 
the  loftiest  views  and  boldest  action,  to  bring  a  speedy 
relief.  Once  relieved,  its  form  of  government  is  saved 
to  the  world ;  its  beloved  history  and  cherished 
memories  are  vindicated;  and  its  happy  future  fully 
assured,  and  rendered  inconceivably  grand.  To  you, 
more  than  to  any  others,  the  privilege  is  given  to  as- 
sure that  happiness  and  swell  that  grandeur,  and  to 
link  your  own  names  therewith  forever. 

To  McClellan,  July  13,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  am  told  that  over  160,000  men 
have  gone  with  your  army  to  the  Peninsula.  When 
I  was  with  you  the  other  day,  we  made  out  86,000 
remaining,  leaving  73,500  to  be  accounted  for.  I 
believe  23,500  will  cover  all  the  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing,  in  all  your  battles  and  skirmishes,  leaving 
50,000  who  have  left  otherwise,  and  more  than  5,000 
of  these  have  .died,  leaving  45,000  of  your  army  still 
alive  and  not  with  it.  I  believe  half  or  two-thirds  of 
them  are  fit  for  duty  to-day.     Have  you  any  "more 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  175 

perfect  knowledge  of  this  than  I  have?  If  I  am 
right,  and  yon  had  these  men  with  yon,  yon  could 
go  into  Richmond  in  the  next  three  days.  How  can 
they  be  got  to  yon,  and  how  can  they  be  prevented 
from  getting  away  in  such  numbers  for  the  future? 

A.  Lincoln. 

President's  Nomination,  July  16,  1862. 
The  Preside nt  of  (he  United  States  of  America  to  all  who 
shall  see  these  presents,  greeting: 

Know  ye  that,  reposing  special  trust  and  confidence 
in  the  patriotism,  valor,  fidelity,  and  abilities  of 
Fitz  John  Porter,  I  have  nominated,  and,  by  and 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  do  appoint 
him  major-general  of  volunteers  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  to  rank  as  such  from  the  4th  day  of 
July,  1862.  He  is,  therefore,  carefully  and  diligently 
to  discharge  the  duty  of  major-general,  by  doing  and 
performing  all  manner  of  things  thereunto  belonging. 
And  I  do  strictly  charge  and  require  all  officers  and 
soldiers  under  his  command  to  be  obedient  to  his  or- 
ders as  major-general.  And  he  is  to  observe  and 
follow  such  orders  and  directions,  from  time  to 
time,  as  he  shall  recieve  from  me,  or  the  future 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or  the 
general,  or  other  superior  officers  set  over  him,  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  and  discipline  of  war.  This  com- 
mission to  continue  in  force  during  the  pleasure  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States  for  the  time 
being. 

Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  city  of  Washington, 
this  16th  day  of  July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 


176  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  in  the 
eighty-seventh  year  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Communication  to  Congress,  July  17,  1862. 

Fellow-Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives:— Considering  the  bill  for  an  act  to  suppress 
insurrection,  to  punish  treason  and  rebellion,  to  seize 
and  confiscate  the  property  of  the  rebels  and  other 
purposes,  and  the  joint  resolution  explanatory  of  said 
act  as  being  substantially  one,  I  have  approved  and 
signed  both. 

Before  I  was  informed  of  the  passage  of  the  reso- 
lution, I  had  prepared  the  draft  of  a  message  stating 
objections  to  the  bill  becoming  a  law,  a  copy  of  which 

draft  is  herewith  trsnsmitted. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  House  of  Representatives : — I 
herewith  return  to  your  honorable  body,  in  which  it 
originated,  the  bill  for  an  act  entitled  An  act  to  sup- 
press treason  and  rebellion,  to  sieze  and  confiscate 
the  property  of  the  rebels,  and  for  other  purposes, 
together  with  my  objections  to  its  becoming  a  law. 
There  is  much  in  the  bill  to  which  I  perceive  no  ob- 
jection. It  is  wholly  prospective,  and  it  touches 
neither  the  person  nor  property  of  any  loyal  citizen, 
in  which  particular  it  is  just  and  proper.  The  first 
and  second  sections  provide  for  the  conviction  and 
punishment  of  persons  who  shall  be  guilty  of  treason, 
and  the  persons  who  shall  incite,  set  on  foot,  assist, 
or  engage  in  any  rebellion  or  insurrection  against  the 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  177 

authority  of  the  United  States,  or  the  laws  thereof, 
or  shall  give  aid  or  comfort  to  any  such  existing  re- 
hellion  or  insurrection. 

By  fair  construction,  the  persons  within  these  sec- 
tions are  not  to  be  punished  without  regular  trials  in 
duly  constituted  courts  under  the  forms  and  all  the 
substantial  provisions  of  law  and  of  the  Constitution 
applicable  to  their  several  cases.  To  this  I  perceive 
no  objection,  especially  as  such  persons  would  be 
within  the  general  pardoning  power,  and  also  within 
the  special  provision  for  pardon  and  amnesty  con- 
tained in  this  act.  It  also  provides  that  the  slaves  of 
persons  confiscated  under  these  sections  shall  be  free. 
I  think  there  is  an  unfortunate  form  of  expression 
rather  than  a  substantial  objection  in  this.  It  is 
startling  to  say  that  Congress  can  free  a  slave  within 
a  state,  and  yet  were  it  said  that  the  ownership  of  a 
slave  had  first  been  transferred  to  the  nation,  and 
that  Congress  had  then  liberated  him,  the  difficulty 
would  vanish,  and  this  is  the  real  case.  The  traitor 
against  the  general  government  forfeits  his  slave,  at 
least  as  justly  as  he  does  any  other  property,  and  he 
forfeits  both  to  the  government  against  which  he 
offends. 

The  government,  so  far  as  there  can  be  ownership, 
owns  the  forfeited  slaves,  and  the  question  for  Con- 
gress in  regard  to  them  is,  shall  they  be  made  free  or 
sold  to  new  masters?  I  see  no  objection  to  Congress 
deciding  in  advance  that  they  shall  be  free.  To  the 
high  honor  of  Kentucky,  as  I  am  informed,  she  has 
been  the  owner  of  some  slaves  by  escheat,  and  has 
sold  none,  but  liberated  all. 


178  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  S 

I  hope  the  same  is  true  of  some  other  states.  In- 
deed I  do  not  believe  it  would  be  physically  possible 
tor  the  general  government  to  return  persons  so  cir- 
cumstanced to  actual  slavery.  I  believe  there  would 
be  physical  resistance  to  it,  which  would  never  be 
turned  aside  by  argument,  nor  driven  away  by  force. 
In  this  view  of  it,  I  have  no  objection  to  this  feature 
of  the  bill.  Another  matter, valued  in  these  two  sec- 
tions, and  running  through  other  parts  of  the  act, 
will  be  noticed  hereafter. 

I  perceive  no  objection  to  the  third  and  fourth  sec- 
tions. So  far  as  I  wish  to  notice  the  fifth  and  sixth 
sections,  they  may  be  considered  together.  That  the 
enforcement  of  these  sections  would  do  no  injustice 
to  the  persons  embraced  within  them  is  clear.  That 
those  who  make  a  causeless  war  should  be  compelled 
to  pay  the  cost  of  it  is  too  obviously  just  to  be  called 
into  question.  To  give  government  protection  to  the 
property  of  persons  who  have  abandoned  it,  and  gone 
on  a  crusade  to  overthrow  that  same  government,  is 
absurd,  if  considered  in  the  mere  light  of  justice. 
The  severest  justice  may  not  always  be  the  best 
policy.  The  principle  of  seizing  and  appropriating 
the  property  of  the  persons  embraced  within  these 
sections  is  certainly  not  very  objectionable,  but  a 
justly  discriminating  application  of  it  would  be  very 
difficult,  and  to  a  great  extent  impossible  ;  and  would 
it  not  be  wise  to  place  a  power  of  remission  some- 
where, so  that  these  persons  may  know  that  they 
have  something  to  save  by  desisting? 

I  am  not  sure  whether  such  power  of  remission  is 
or  is  not  within  section  thirteen,  without  a  special  act 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  170 

of  Congress.  I  think  our  military  commanders, 
when,  in  military  phrase,  they  arc  within  the  enemy's 
country,  should  in  an*  orderly  manner  seize  and  keep 
whatever  of  real  or  personal  property  may  he  neces- 
sary or  convenient  for  their  demands,  and  at  the  same 
time  preserve  in  some  way  the  evidence  of  what 
they  do. 

What  I  have  said  in  regard  to  slaves,  while  com- 
menting on  the  first  and  second  sections,  is  applicable 
to  the  ninth,  with  the  difference  that  no  provision  is 
made  in  the  whole  act  for  determining  whether  a  par- 
ticular individual  slave  does  or  does  not  fall  within 
the. class  defined  within  that  section.  lie  is  to  be  free 
upon  certain  conditions,  but  whether  these  conditions 
do  or  do  not  pertain  to  him,  no  mode  of  ascertaining 
is  provided.     This  could  be  easily  supplied. 

To  tlie  tenth  section  I  make  no  objection.  The 
oath  therein  required  seems  to  be  proper,  and  the  re- 
mainder of  the  section  is  substantially  identical  with 
a  law  already  existing. 

The  eleventh  section  simply  assumes  to  confer  dis- 
cretionary powers  upon  the  Executive  without  the 
law.  I  have  no  hesitation  to  go  as  far  in  the  direc- 
tion indicated  as  I  may  at  any  time  deem  expedient, 
and  I  am  ready  to  say  now  I  think  it  is  proper  for 
our  jnilitary  commanders  to  employ  as  laborers  as 
many  persons  of  African  descent  as  can  be  used  to 
advantage. 

The  twelfth  and  thirteenth  sections  are  something 
better — they  are  unobjectionable — and  the  fourteenth 
is  entirely  proper,  if  all  other  parts  of  the  act  shall 
stand. 


180  Abraham  Lincoln's 

That  to  which  I  chiefly  object  pervades  most  parts 
of  the  act,  hut  more  distinctly  appears  in  the  first, 
second,  seventh,  and  eighth  sections.  It  is  the  sum 
of  those  provisions  which  results  in  the  divesting  of 
title  forever.  For  the  causes  of  treason — the  ingredi- 
ents of  treason,  but  amounting  to  the  full  crime — it 
declares  forfeiture  cxteuding  beyond  the  lives  of  the 
guilty  parties,  whereas  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  declares  that  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work 
corruption  of  blood  or  forfeiture,  except  during  the 
life  of  the  person  attainted.  True,  there  is  to  be  no 
formal  attainder  in  this  ease,  still  I  think  the  greater 
punishment  can  not  be  constitutionally  inflicted  in  a 
different  form  for  the  same  offense.  With  great  re- 
spect I  am  constrained  to  say  I  think  this  feature  of 
the  act  is  unconstitutional.  It  would  not  be  difficult 
to  modify  it.  I  may  remark  that  the  provision  of 
the  Constitution,  put  in  language  borrowed  from 
Great  Britain,  applies  only  in  this  country,  as  I  un- 
derstand, to  real  estate. 

Again,  this  act,  by  proceedings  in  rem,  forfeits 
property  for  the  ingredients  of  treason  without  a 
conviction  of  the  supposed  criminal,  or  a  personal 
hearing  given  him  in  any  proceeding.  That  we  may 
not  touch  property  lying  within  our  reach  because  wre 
can  not  give  personal  notice  to  an  owner  who  is  ab- 
sent endeavoring  to  destroy  the  government,  is  cer- 
tainly not  very  satisfactory.  Still  the  owner  may  not 
be  thus  engaged,  and  I  think  a  reasonable  time  should 
be  provided  for  such  parties  to  appear  and  have  per- 
sonal hearings.  Similar  provisions  are  not  uncom- 
mon in  connection  with  proceedings  in  rem. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  181 

For  the  reason  stated  I  return  the  bill  to  the  house 
in  which  it  originated. 

To    CUTHBERT    BULLITT,    Esq.,  NEW    ORLEANS,    La. 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  28,  1862. 

Sir: — The  copy  of  a  letter  addressed  to  yourself  by 
Mr.  Thomas  J.  Durant  has  been  shown  to  me.  The 
writer  appears  to  be  an  able,  a  dispassionate  and  an 
entirely  sincere  man. 

The  first  part  of  the  letter  is  devoted  to  an  effort  to 
show  that  the  secession  ordinance  of  Louisiana  was 
adopted  against  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  people. 

This  is  probable  true,  and  in  that  fact  may  be  found 
some  instruction.  Why  did  they  allow  the  ordinance 
to  go  into  effect?  Why  did  they  not  exert  them- 
selves? Why  stand  passive  and  allow  themselves  to 
be  trodden  down  by  a  minority?  Why  did  they  not 
hold  popular  meetings,  and  have  a  convention  of 
their  own  to  express  and  enforce  the  true  sentiments 
of  the  state?  If  pre-organization  were  against  them, 
then  why  not  do  this  now  that  the  United  States 
army  is  present  to  protect  them? 

The  paralysis — the  dread  palsy — of  the  government 
in  the  whole  struggle  is,  that  this  class  of  men  will 
do  nothing  for  the  government — nothing  for  them- 
selves, except  demanding  that  the  government  shall 
not  strike  its  enemies,  lest  they  be  struck  by  acci- 
dent. Mr.  Durant  complains,  that  in  various  ways, 
the  relation  of  master  and  slave  is  disturbed  by 
the  presence  of  our  army;  and  he  considers.it  partic- 


182  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  S 

ularly  vexatious  that  this.  In  part,  is  done  under  cover 
of  an  act  of  Congress,  while  constitutional  guarantees 
are  superseded  on  the  pleas  of  military  necessity. 

The  truth  is,  that  what  is  done  and  omitted  about 
slaves  is  done  and  omitted   on  the  same  military  ne- 
cessitv.     It  is  a  military  necessity  to  have  men  and 
money;  and  we  can  not  get  either  in  sufficient  num- 
bers or  amounts,  if  we  keep  from  or  drive  from  out- 
lines slaves   coming  to   them.     Mr.  Durant  can   not 
be  ignorant  of  the  pressure  in  this  direction,  nor  of 
my  efforts  to  hold  it  within  bounds,  till  he,  and  such 
as  he,  shall  have  time  to  help  themselves.     I  am  not 
posted  to  speak  understanding^  on  the  public  regu- 
lations of  which  Air.  Durant  complains.    If  experience 
shows  any  of  them  to  be  wrong,  let  them  be  set  right. 
I  think  I  can  perceive  in  the  freedom  of  trade  which 
Air.  Durant  urges,  that  he  would  relieve  both  friends 
and  enemies  from  the  pressure  of  the  blockade.     By 
this  he  would  serve  the  enemy  more  effectively  than 
the  enemy  is  able  to  serve  himself. 

I  do  not  say  or  believe  that  to  serve  the  enemy  is 
the  purpose  of  Mr.  Durant,  or  that  he  is  conscious  of 
any  purposes  other  than  national  and  patriotic  ones. 
Still,  if  this  were  a  class  of  men  who,  having  no  choice 
.of  sides  in  the  contest,  were  anxious  only  to  have 
quiet  and  comfort  for  themselves  while  it  rages,  and 
to  fall  in  with  the  victorious  side  at  the  end  of  it, 
without  loss  to  themselves,  their  advice  as  to  the 
mode  of  conducting  the  contest  would  be  precisely 
such  as  his. 

He  speaks  of  no  duty,  apparently  thinks  of  none, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  183 

resting  upon  Union  men.  He  even  thinks  it  injuri- 
ous to  the  Union  cause  that  they  should  be  restrained 
in  trade  and  passages,  without  taking  sides. 

They  are  to  touch  neither  a  sail  nor  a  pump  line, 
merely  passengers  ("(lead  heads"  at  that) —  be 
carried  snug  and  dry  throughout  the  storm  and  safely 
landed  right  side  up.  Nay,  more — even  a  mutineer 
is  to  go  untouched,  lest  these  sacred  passengers  re- 
ceive an  accidental  wound. 

Of  course  the  rebellion  will  never  be  suppressed  in 
Louisiana,  if  the  professed  Union  men  there  will 
neither  help  to  do  it,  nor  permit  the  government  to 
do  it  without  their  help.  Now,  I  think  the  remedy 
is  very  different  from  that  suggested  by  Mr.  Durant. 
It  does  not  lie  in  rounding  the  rough  angles  of  the 
war,  but  in  removing  the  necessity  for  the  war.  The 
people  of  Louisiana,  who  wish  protection  to  person 
and  property,  have  but  to  reach  forth  their  hands 
and  take  it.  Let  them  in  good  faith  re-inaugurate 
the  national  authority  and  set  up  a  state  government 
conforming  thereto  under  the  constitution.  They 
know  how  to  do  it,  and  have  the  protection  of  the 
army  while  doing  it.  The  army  will  be  withdrawn 
as  soon  as  such  government  can  dispense  with  its 
presence,  and  the  people  of  the  state  can  then,  upon 
the  old  terms,  govern  themselves  to  their  liking. 
This  is  very  simple  and  easy. 

If  they  do  not  do  this,  if  they  prefer  to  hazard  all 
for  the  sake  of  destroying  the  government,  it  is  for 
them  to  consider  whether  it  is  probable  I  will  sur- 
render the  government  to  save  them  from  losing  all. 


184  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S  *■ 

If  they  decline  what  I  suggest,  you  will  scarcely  need 
to  ask  what  I  will  do.  What  would  you  do  in  im- 
position ?  Would  you  drop  the  war  where  it  is?  Or 
would  you  prosecute  it  in  future  with  elder-stalk 
squirts,  charged  with  rose-water?  Would  you  deal 
lighter  blows  rather  than  heavier  ones?  Would  you 
give  up  the  control  leaving  every  available  means  un- 
applied? I  am  in  no  boastful  mood.  I  shall  not  do 
more  than  I  can,  but  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  save  the 
government,  which  is  my  sworn  duty  as  well  as  my 
personal  inclination.  I  shall  do  nothing  in  malice. 
What  I  deal  with  is  too  vast  for  malicious  dealing. 
Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Remarks  at   a   Union  Meeting  in   Washington, 
August,  6,  1862. 

Fellow- Citizens : — I  believe  there  is  no  precedent  for 
my  appearing  before  you  on  this  occasion,  but  it  is 
also  true  that  there  is  no  precedent  for  your  being 
here  yourselves,  and  I  offer,  in  justification  of  myself 
and  of  you,  that,  upon  examination,  I  have  found 
nothing  in  the  constitution  against  it.  I,  however, 
have  an  impression  that  there  are  younger  gentlemen 
who  will  entertain  you  better,  and  better  address  your 
understanding  than  I  will  or  could,  and  therefore  I 
propose  to  detain  you  but  a  moment  longer. 

I  am  very  little  inclined  on  any  occasion  to  say  any- 
thing unless  I  hope  to  produce  some  good  by  it.  The 
only  thing  I  think  of  just  now  not  likely  to  be  better 
said  by  some  one  else,  is  a  matter  in  which  we  have 
heard  some  other  persons  blamed  for  what  I  did  my- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  185 

self.  There  has  been  a  very  widespread  attempt  to 
have  a  quarrel  between  General  McClellan  and  the 
Secretary  of  War.  Now,  I  occupy  a  position  that 
enables  me  to  observe,  that  these  two  gentlemen  arc 
not  nearly  so  deep  in  the  quarrel  as  some  pretending 
to  be  their  friends.  General  MeClellairs  attitude  is 
such  that,  in  the  verv  selfishness  of  his  nature,  he  can 
not  but  wish  to  be  successful,  and  I  hope  he  will  — and 
the  Secretary  of  War  is  in  precisely  the  same  situation. 
If  the  military  commanders  in  the  field  can  not  be 
successful,  not  only  the  Secretary  of  War,  but  myself, 
for  the  time  being  the  master  of  them  both,  can  not 
but  be  failures. 

I  know  General  McClellan  wishes  to  be  successful, 
and  I  know  that  lie  does  not  wish  it  any  more  than 
the  Secretary  of  War  for  him,  and  both  of  them  to- 
gether not  more  than  I  wish  it.  Sometimes  we  have 
a  dispute  about  how  many  men  General  McClellan  has 
had,  and  those  who  would  disparage  him  say  that  he 
has  had  a  very  large  number,  and  those  who  would 
disparage  the  Secretary  of  War  insist  that  General 
McClellan  has  had  a  verv  small  number.  The  basis 
for  this  is,  there  is  always  a  wide  difference,  and  on 
this  occasion,  perhaps  a  wider  one  than  usual,  between 
the  grand  total  on  McClellan's  rolls  and  the  men  act- 
ually  tit  for  duty;  and  those  who  would  disparage 
him  talk  of  the  grand  total  on  paper,  and  those  who 
would  disparage  the  Secretary  of  War  talk  of  those 
at  present  fit  for  duty. 

General  McClellan  has  sometimes  asked  for  things 
16 


186  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

that  the  Secretary  of  War  did  not  give  him.  General 
McClellan  is  not  to  blame  for  askingfor  what  hewanted 
and  needed,  and  the  Secretary  of  War  is  not  to  blame 
for  not  giving  when  lie  had  none  to  give.  And  I  say 
here,  as  far  as  I  know,  the  Secretary  of  War  has  with- 
held no  one  thing  at  any  time  in  my  power  to  give 
him.  I  have  no  accusation  against  him.  I  believe  he 
is  a  brave  and  able  man,  and  I  stand  here,  as  justice 
requires  me  to  do,  to  take  upon  myself  what  has  been 
charged  on  the  Secretary  of  War,  as  withholding 
from  him.  I  have  talked  longer  than  I  expected  to 
do,  and  now  I  avail  myself  of  my  privilege  of  saying 
no  more. 

The  President  on  Colonization,  August  14, 1862. 
Perhaps  you  have  long  been  free,  or  all  your  lives. 
Your  race  is  suffering,  in  my  judgment,  the  greatest 
wrong  inflicted  on  any  people.  But  even  when  you 
cease  to  be  slaves,  you  are  yet  far  removed  from  being 
placed  on  an  equality  with  the  white  race.  You  are  cut 
off  from  many  of  the  advantages  which  the  other  race 
enjoys.  The  aspiration  of  men  is  to  enjoy  equality 
with  the  best  when  free,  but  on  this  broad  continent 
not  a  single  man  of  your  race  is  made  the  equal  of  a 
single  man  of  ours.  Go  where  you  are  treated  the 
best,  and  the  ban  is  still  upon  you.  I  do  not  propose 
to  discuss  this,  but  to  present  it  as  a  fact,  with  which 
we  have  to  deal.  I  can  not  alter  it  if  I  would.  It  is 
a  fact  about  which  we  all  think  and  feel  alike,  I  and 
you.  We  look  to  our  condition.  Owing  to  the  ex- 
istence of  the  two  races  on  this  continent,  I  need  not 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  187 

recount  to  you  the  effects  upon  white  men,  growing 
out  of  the  institution  of  slavery.  I  believe  in  its 
general  evil  effects  on  the  white  race.  See  our  present 
condition — the  country  engaged  in  war;  our  white 
men  cutting1  one  another's  throats — none  knowing 
how  far  it  will  extend — and  then  consider  what  we 
know  to  be  the  truth.  But  for  your  race  among  us 
there  could  not  be  war,  although  many  men  engaged 
on  either  side  do  not  care  for  you  one  way  or  the 
other.  Nevertheless,  I  repeat,  without  the  institution 
of  slavery,  and  the  colored  race  as  a  basis,  the  war 
could  not  have  an  existence. 

It  is  better  for  us  both  therefore  to  be  separated.  I 
know  that  there  are  free  men  among  you  who,  even  if 
they  could  better  their  condition,  are  not  as  much  in- 
clined to  go  out  of  the  country  as  those  who,  being 
slaves,  could  obtain  their  freedom  on  this  condition. 
I  suppose  one  of  the  principal  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  colonization  is  that  the  free  colored  man  can  not 
see  that  his  comfort  would  be  advanced  by  it.  You 
may  believe  that  you  can  live  in  Washington,  or  else- 
where in  the  United  States,  the  remainder  of  your 
life;  perhaps  more  so  than  you  can  in  any  foreign 
country,  and  hence  you  may  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  you  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  idea  of  going  to 
a  foreign  country.  This  is  (I  speak  in  no  unkind 
sense)  an  extremely  selfish  view  of  the  case.  But  you 
ought  to  do  something  to  help  those  who  are  not  so 
fortunate  as  yourselves.  There  is  an  unwillingness 
on  the  part  of  our  people,  harsh  as  it  may  be,  for  you 
free  colored  people  to  remain  with  us.     Now,  if  you 


188  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

could  give  a  start  to  the  white  people  you  would  open 
a  wide  door  for  many  to  be  made  free.  If  we  deal 
with  those  who  are  not  free  at  the  beginning,  and 
whose  intellects  are  clouded  by  slavery,  we  have  very 
poor  material  to  start  with.  If  intelligent  colored 
men,  such  as  are  before  me,  would  move  in  this  mat- 
ter, much  might  be  accomplished.  It  is  exceedingly 
important  that  we  have  men  at  the  beginning  capable 
of  thinking  as  white  men,  and  not  those  who  have 
been  systematically  oppressed.  There  is  much  to  en- 
courage you.  For  the  sake  of  your  race  you  should 
sacrifice  something  of  your  present  comfort  for  the 
purpose  of  being  as  grand  in  that  respect  as  the  white 
people.  It  is  a  cheering  thought  throughout  life,  that 
something  can  be  done  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
those  who  have  been  subject  to  the  hard  usages  of  the 
world.  It  is  difficult  to  make  a  man  miserable  while 
he  feels  he  is  worthy  of  himself  and  claims  kindred 
to  the  great  God  who  made  him.  In  the  American 
Revolutionary  war  sacrifices  were  made  by  men  en- 
gaged  in  it,  hut  they  were  cheered  by 'the  future. 
General  Washington  himself  endured  greater  physical 
hardships  than  if  he  had  remained  a  British  subject, 
yet  he  was  a  happy  man,  because  he  was  engaged  in 
benefiting  his  race, in  doing  something  for  the  children 
of  his  neighbors,  having  none  of  his  own. 

The  colony  of  Liberia  has  been  in  existence  a  long 
time.  In  a  certain  sense  it  is  a  success.  The  old 
President  of  Liberia,  Roberts,  has  just  been  with  me, 
the  first  time  I  ever  saw  him.  He  says  they  have 
within  the  hounds  of  that  colony  between  three  and 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  [S'.l 

four  hundred  thousand  people,  or  more  than  in 
some  of  our  old  states,  such  as  Rhode  Island  or 
Delaware,  or  in  some  of  our  newer  states,  and  less 
than  in  some  of  our  larger  ones. 

They  are  not  all  American  colonists  or  their  de- 
scendants. Something  less  than  12,000  have  been 
sent  thither  from  this  country.  Many  of  the  original 
settlers  have  died,  yet,  like  people  elsewhere,  their 
offspring  outnumber  those  deceased.  The  question 
is,  if  the  colored  people  are  persuaded  to  go  any- 
where, whv  not  there?  One  reason  for  unwilling- 
ness  to  do  so  is,  that  some  of  you  would  rather  re- 
main in  reach  of  the  country  of  your  nativity.  I 
do  not  know  how  much  attachment  you  may  have 
Toward  our  race.  It  does  not  strike  me  that  you 
have  the  greatest  reason  to  love  them.  But  still 
you  are  attached  to  them  at  all  events.  The  place  I 
am  thinking  about  having  for  a  colony  is  in  Central 
America.  It  is  nearer  to  us  than  Liberia,  not  much 
more  than  one-fourth  as  far  as  Liberia,  and  within 
seven  days  run  by  steamers.  Unlike  Liberia,  it  is  a 
great  line  of  travel,  it  is  a  highway.  The  country 
is  a  very  excellent  one  for  any  people,  and  with 
great  natural  resources  and  advantages,  and  es- 
pecially because  of  the  similarity  of  climate  with 
your  native  soil,  thus  being  suited  to  your  physical 
condition. 

The  particular  place  I  have  in  view  is  to  be  a 
great  highway  from  the  Atlantic  or  Caribbean  Sea 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  this  particular  place  has 
all  the  advantages  for  a  colony.     On  both  sides  there 


190  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

are  harbors  among  tlie  finest  in  the  world.  Again, 
there  is  evidence  of  very  rich  coal  mines.  A  certain 
amount  of  coal  is  valuable  in  any  country.  Why  I 
attach  so  much  importance  to  coal  is  it  will  afford 
an  opportunity  to  the  inhabitants  for  immediate 
employment  till  they  get  ready  to  settle  permanently 
in  their  homes.  If  you  take  colonists  where  there 
is  no  good  landing,  there  is  a  bad  show;  and  so 
where  there  is  nothing  to  cultivate,  and  of  which 
to  make  a  farm.  But  if  something  is  started,  so 
that  you  can  get  your  daily  bread  as  soon  as  you 
reach  there,  it  is  a  great  advantage.  Coal  land  is 
the  best  thing  I  know  of  with  which  to  commence 
an  enterprise.  To  return,  you  have  been  talked  to 
upon  this  subject,  and  told  that  a  speculation  is  in- 
tended by  gentlemen  who  have  an  interest  in  the 
country,  including  the  coal  mines.  We  have  been 
mistaken  all  our  lives  if  we  do  not  know  whites, 
as  well  as  blacks,  look  to  their  self-interest.  Un- 
less among  those  deficient  of  intellect,  every  body 
you  trade  with  makes  something.  You  meet  with 
these  things  here  and  every-where.  If  such  per- 
sons have  what  will  be  an  advantage  to  them,  the 
question  is,  whether  it  can  not  be  made  of  advantage 
to  you?  You  are  intelligent,  and  know  that  success 
does  not  as  much  depend  on  external  help  as  on 
self-reliance.  Much,  therefore,  depends  upou  your- 
selves. As  to  the  coal  mines,  I  think  I  see  the 
means  available  for  your  self-reliance.  I  shall,  if 
I  get  a  sufficient  number  of  you  engaged,  have  pro- 
vision made  that  you  will  not  be  wronged.     If  you 


1'ICN  AND  VOICE.  101 

will  engage  in  the  enterprise,  I  will  spend  some  of  the 
money  intrusted  to  me.  I  am  not  sure  you  will  suc- 
ceed. The  government  may  lose  the  money,  but  we 
can  not  succeed  unless  we  try;  but  we  think  with 
care  we  can  succeed.  The  political  affairs  in  Central 
America  are  not  in  quite  as  satisfactory  condition  as 
I  wish.  There  are  contending  factions  in  that  quar- 
ter, but  it  is  true  all  the  factions  are  agreed  alike  on 
the  subject  of  colonization,  and  want  it,  and  are 
more  generous  than  we  are  here.  To  your  colored 
race  they  have  no  objection.  Besides,  I  would  en- 
deavor to  have  you  made  equals,  and  have  the  best 
assurance  that  you  should  be  the  equals  of  the  best. 
The  practical  thing  I  want  to  ascertain  is,  whether  I 
can  get  a  number  of  able-bodied  men,  with  their  wives 
and  children,  who  are  willing  to  go,  when  I  present 
evidence,  encouragement,  and  protection.  Could  I 
get  a  hundred  tolerably  intelligent  men,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  able  to  "cut  their  own  fod- 
der," so  to  speak  ?  Can  I  have  fifty  ?  If  I  could  find 
twenty-five  able-bodied  men,  with  a  mixture  of  wo- 
men and  children — good  things  in  the  family  relation, 
I  think — I  could  make  a  successful  commencement. 
I  want  you  to  let  me  know  whether  this  can  be  done 
or  not.  This  is  the  practical  part  of  my  wish  to  see 
you.  These  are  subjects  of  very  great  importance, 
worthy  of  a  month's  study,  of  a  speech  delivered  in 
an  hour.  I  ask  you,  then,  to  consider  seriously,  not- 
pertaining  to  yourselves  mere]v?  UOr  for  your  race 
and  ours  for  the  present  time,  but  as  one  of  the 
things,  if  successfully  managed,  for  the  good  of  man- 


192  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Kind,  not  confined  to  the  present  generation,  but  as 

"  From  age  to  age  descends  the  lay 
To'niillions  yet  to  be, 
Till  far  it's  echoes  roll  away 
Into  eternity.'' 

Letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  Aug.  22,  1862. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  just  read  yours  of  the  19th  inst. 
addressed  to  myself  through  the  Xew  York  Tribune. 
If  there  be  in  it  any  statements  or  assumptions  of 
fact  which  I  may  know  to  be  erroneous,  I  do  not  now 
and  here  controvert  them.  If  there  be  any  inferences 
which  I  may  believe  to  be  falsely  drawn,  I  do  not 
now  and  here  argue  against  them.  If  there  be  per- 
ceptible in  it  an  impatient  and  dictatorial  tone,  I 
waive  it  in  deference  to  an  old  friend  whose  heart  I 
have  always  supposed  to  be  right. 

As  to  the  policy  I  "seem  to  be  pursuing,"  as  you 
say,  I  have  not  meant  to  leave  any  one  in  doubt.  I 
would  save  the  Union.  I  would  save  it  in  the  short- 
est way  under  the  Constitution.  The  sooner  the  na- 
tional authority  can  be  restored,  the  nearer  the  Union 
will  be — the  Union  as  it  was.  If  there  be  those  who 
would  not  save  the  Union  unless  the}'  could  at  the 
same  time  save  slavery,  I  do  not  agree  with  them. 

If  there  be  those  who  would  not  save  the  Union 
unless  they  could  at  the  same  time  destroy  slavery,  I 
do  not  agree  with  them.  l>ly  paramount  object  is  to 
save  the  Union,  and  not  either  to  save  or  destroy 
slavery. 

If  I    could   save  the  Union,  without  freeing  any 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  193 

slave,  I  would  do  it ;  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all 
the  slaves,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I  could  do  it  by  free- 
ing some,  and  leaving  others  alone,  I  would  also  do 
that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the  colored  race, 
I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  this  Union. 
And  what  I  forbear,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not  be- 
lieve it  would  help  to  save  the  Union. 

I  shall  do  less  whenever  I  shall  believe  what  I  am 
doing  hurts  the  cause,  and  I  shall  do  more  whenever 
I  believe  doing  more  will  help  the  cause. 

I  shall  try  to  correct  errors  when  shown  to  be  er- 
rors, and  I  shall  adopt  new  views  so  fast  as  they  shall 
appear  to  be  true  views. 

I  have  here  stated  my  purpose  according  to  my 
views  of  official  duty,  and  I  intend  no  modification 
of  my  oft-expressed  personal  wish  that  all  men  every- 
where could  be  free.  Yours,  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Maj.-Gen.  J.  C.  Fremont,  Sept.  11,  1862. 

Sir: — Yours  of  the  8th,  in  answer  to  mine  of  the 
2d  inst.,  was  just  received.  Assuming  that  you,  upon 
the  ground,  could  better  judge  of  the  necessities  of 
your  position  than  I  could  at  this"  distance,  on  seeing 
your  proclamation  of  August  30th,  I  perceived  no 
general  objection  to  it;  the  particular  clause,  how- 
ever, in  relation  to  the  confiscation  of  property  and 
the  liberation  of  slaves,  appeared  to  me  to  be  objec- 
tionable in  its  non-conformity  to  the  act  of  Congress 
passed  the  0th  of  last  August  upon  the  same  subject, 
and  hence  I  wrote  you  expressing  my  wish  that  the 
clause  should  be  modified  accordingly.  Your  an- 
17 


194  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

swer,  just  received,  expresses  the  preference  on  your 
part  that  I  should  make  an  open  order  for  the  modi- 
cation,  which  I  very  cheerfully  do. 

It  is  therefore  ordered  that  the  said  clause  of  said 
proclamation  be  so  modified,  held,  and  construed  as 
to  conform  with  and  not  to  transcend  the  provisions 
on  the  same  subject  contained  in  the  act  of  Congress, 
entitled  "An  act  to  confiscate  property  used  for  in- 
surrectionary purposes,  approved  August  6,  180  V 
and  that  said  act  be  published  at  length  with  this 
order.  Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  his  Excellency,  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  Governor  op 
Pennsylvania,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.  11,  1862. 
Sir: — The  application  made  to  me  by  your  adju- 
tant-general for  authority  to  call  out  the  militia  of 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  received  careful  con- 
sideration. It  is  my  anxious  desire  to  afford,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  means  and  power  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment to  protect  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  from 
invasion  by  the  rebel  force,  and  since,  in  your  judg- 
ment, the  militia  of*  the  state  are  required,  and  have 
been  called  upon  by  you  to  organize  for  home  de- 
fense and  protection,  I  sanction  the  call  that  you  have 
made,  and  will  receive  them  into  the  service  and  pay 
of  the  United  States  to  the  extent  they  can  be  armed, 
equipped,  and  usefully  employed.  The  arms  and 
equipments  now  belonging  to  the  general  govern- 
ment will  be  needed  for  the  troops  called  out  for  the 
national  armies,  so  that  arms  can  only  be  furnished 
for  the  quota  of  militia  furnished  by  the  draft  of  nine 


PENT   AND   VOICE.  195 

months  men,  heretofore  ordered.  But,  as  arms  may 
be  supplied  by  the  militia  under  your  call,  these, 
with  the  30,000  in  your  arsenal,  will  probably  be  suf- 
ficient  for  the  purpose  contemplated  by  your  call. 
You  will  be  authorized  to  provide  such  equipments 
as  may  be  required,  according  to  the  regulations  of 
the  United  States  service,  which,  upon  being-  turned 
over  to  the  United  States  Quartermaster's  Depart- 
ment, will  lie  paid  for  at  regulation  prices,  or  the 
rates  allowed  by  the  department  for  such  articles. 
Railroad  transportation  will  also  be  paid  for,  as  in 
other  cases.  Such  general  officers  will  be  supplied  as 
the  exigencies  of  the  service  will  permit. 

Yours  truly,         Abraham  Lincoln'. 

To  Hon.  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  IIarrisburg,  Pa. 
War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C, 
September  12,  1802,  10:35  A.  31. 
Your  dispatch,  asking  for  80,000  disciplined  troops 
to  be  sent  to  Pennsylvania,  is  received.     Please  con- 
sider we  have  not  to  exceed  80,000  disciplined  troops, 
properly  so  called,  this  side   of  the   mountains,  and 
most  of  them,  with  many  of  the   new  regiments,  are 
now  close  in   the   rear  of  the  enemy  supposed  to  he 
invading  Pennsylvania.     Start  half  of  them  to  Ilar- 
risburg,  and  the  enemy  will  turn  upon  and  beat  the 
remaining  half,  and  then  reach  IIarrisburg  before  the 
part   going  there,  and  beat  it,  too,  when  it  comes. 
The  best  possible  security  for   Pennsylvania  is  put- 
ting the  strongest  force  possible  into  the  enemy's  rear. 

A.  Lincoln. 


196  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

To  Hon.  Alexander  Henry,  Philadelphia. 

War  Department,  Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.  12, 1862. 

Yours  <>f  to-day  received — General  Ilalleck  has  made 
the  best  provision  he  can  for  generals  in  Pennsylvania. 
Please  do  not  be  offended  when  I  assure  you  that  in  my 
confident  belief  Philadelphia  is  in  no  danger.  Gov- 
ernor Curtin  has  just  telegraphed  me.  I  have  advices 
that  Jackson  is  crossing  the  Potomac  at  Williams- 
port,  and  probably  the  whole  rebel  army  will  be  drawn 
from  Maryland.  At  all  events,  Philadelphia  is  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  Hagerstown,  and 
could  not  he  reached  by  the  rebel  army  in  ten  days, 
if  no  hindrance  was  interposed.  A.  Lincoln. 

Remarks  Respecting  the  Issue  of  the  Proclamation, 
September  13,  1862. 
7TAe  President  gave  an  audience  to  a  deputation  fiom 
all  the  religious  denominations  of  Chicago,  presenting  a 
memorial  for  the  immediate  issue  of  an  emancipation 
proclamation,  which  was  enforced  by  some  remarks  by  the 
chairman.  The  President  replied '—The  subject  pre- 
sented in  the  memorial  is  one  upon  which  I  have 
thought  much  for  weeks  past,  and  I  may  even  say  for 
months.  I  am  approached  with  the  most  opposite 
opinions  and  advice,  and  that  by  religious  men,  who 
are  equally  certain  that  they  represent  the  Divine 
will.  I  am  sure  that  either  the  one  or  the  other  class 
is  mistaken  in  that  belief,  and  perhaps,  in  some  re- 
spect, both.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for  me  to 
say  that  if  it  is  probable  that  God  would  reveal  his 
will  to  others,  on  a  point  so  connected  with  my  duty, 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  197 

it  might  be  supposed  He  would  reveal  it  directly  to 
me;  for,  unless  T  am  more  deceived  in  myself  than  I 
often  am,  it  is  my  earnest  desire  to  know  the  will  of 
Providence  in  this  matter,  and  if  I  can  learn  what  it 
is,  I  will  do  it.  These  are  not,  however,  the  days  of 
miracles,  and  I  suppose  it  will  be  granted  that  I  am 
not  to  expect  a  direct  revelation.  I  must  study  the 
plain  physical  facts  of  the  case,  ascertain  what  is  pos- 
sible, and  learn  what  appears  to  be  wise  and  right. 

The  subject  is  difficult,  and  good  men  do  not  agree. 
For  instance,  the  other  day  four  gentlemen  of  stand- 
ing and  intelligence  from  New  York  called  as  a  dele- 
gation  on  business  connected  with  the  war,  but  before 
leaving,  two  of  them  earnestly  besought  me  to  pro- 
claim general  emancipation,  upon  which  the  other  two 
at  once  attacked  them.  You  know  also  that  the  last 
session  of  Congress  had  a  decided  majority  of  anti- 
slavery  men,  yet  they  could  not  unite  on  this  policy. 
And  the  same  is  true  of  the  religious  people.  Why, 
the  rebel  soldiers  are  praying  with  a  great  deal  more 
earnestness,  I  fear,  than  our  own  troops,  and  expect- 
ing God  to  favor  their  side,  for  one  of  our  soldiers, 
who  had  been  taken  prisoner,  told  Senator  Wilson  a 
few  days  since,  that  he  met  nothing  so  discouraging 
as  the  evident  sincerity  of  those  he  was  among  in 
their  prayers.  But  we  will  talk  over  the  merits  of 
the  case. 

What  good  would  a  proclamation  of  emancipation 
from  me  do,  especially  as  we  are  now  situated?  I  do 
not  want  to  issue  a  document  that  the  whole  world 
will  sec  must  necessarily  be  inoperative,  like  the  Pope's 
bull  against  the  comet.     Would  my  word  free  the 


198  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

slaves  when  I  can  not  even  enforce  the  Constitution 
in  the  rebel  states?     Is  there  a  single  court  or  magis- 
trate, or  individual,  that  would   be  influenced  by  it 
there?     And  what  reason  is  there   to    think  it  would 
have  any  greater  effect  upon  the  slaves  than  the  late 
law  of  Congress,  which  I  approved,  and  which  offers 
protection  and  freedom  to  the  slaves  of  rebel  masters 
who  come  within  our  lines?     Yet  I  can  not  learn  that 
that  law  has  eaused  a  single  slave  to  come  over  to  its. 
And  suppose  they  could  be  induced  by  a  proclama- 
tion of  freedom  from  me  to  throw  themselves  upon 
us.  what  should  we  do  with  them?     How  can  we  feed 
and  care  for  such  a  multitude?     General  Butler  wrote 
me  a  few  days  since  that  he  was  issuing  more  rations 
to  the  slaves  who  have  rushed  to  him,  than  to  all  the 
white  troops   under  his  command.      They   eat,  and 
that  is  all.  though  it  is  true  General  Butler  is  feeding 
the  whites  also  by  the  thousand,  for  it  nearly  amounts 
to  a  famine  there.     If  now,  the  pressure  of  the  war 
should  call  off  our  forces  from  New  Orleans  to  defend 
some  other  point,  what  is  to  prevent  the  masters  from 
reducing  the  blacks  to  slavery  again,  for  I  am  told 
that  whenever  the  rebels  take  any  black  prisoners, 
free    or   slave,  they    immediately    auction    them    off. 
They  did  so  with   those  they  took  from  a  boat  that 
was  aground  in  the  Tennessee  river  a  few  days  ago. 
And   then   I  am  very   ungenerously  attacked  for  it. 
For  instance,  when  after  the  late  battles  at  and  near 
Bull  Run,  an  expedition  went  out  from  Washington 
under  a  flag  of  truce,  to  bury  the  dead  and  bring  in 
the  wounded,  and  the  rebels  seized  the  blacks  who 
went    along    to    help,   and    sent    them    into    slavery, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  199 

Horace  Greeley  said  in  his  paper  that  the  government 
would  probably  do  nothing  about  it.  What  could 
I  do? 

Now,  then,  tell  me,  if  you  please,  what  possible  re- 
sult of  good  would  follow  the  issuing  of  such  a  procla- 
mation as  you  desire?  Understand,  I  raise  no  objec- 
tions against  it  on  legal  or  constitutional  grounds,  for, 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  in  time 
of  war  I  suppose  I  have  a  right  to  take  any  measure 
which  may  best  subdue  the  enemy ;  nor  do  I  raise  ob- 
jections of  a  moral  nature,  in  view  of  possible  conse- 
quences of  insurrection  and  massacre  at  the  south.  I 
view  this  matter  as  a  practical  war  measure,  to  be 
decided  on  according  to  the  advantages  or  disadvant- 
ages it  may  offer  to  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion. 

I  admit  that  slavery  is  at  the  root  of  the  rebellion, 
or  at  least  its  sine  qua  non.  The  ambition  of  politi- 
cians may  have  instigated  them  to  act,  but  they  would 
have  been  impotent  without  slavery  as  their  instru- 
ment. I  will  also  concede  that  emancipation  would 
help  us  in  Europe,  and  convince  them  that  we  are  in- 
cited by  something  more  than  ambition.  I  grant, 
further,  that  it  would  help  somewhat  at  the  North, 
though  not  so  much,  I  fear,  as  you  and  those  you 
represent  imagine.  Still,  some  additional  strength 
would  be  added  in  that  way  to  the  war,  and  then,  un- 
questionably, it  would  weaken  the  rebels  by  drawing 
off  their  laborers,  which  is  of  great  importance;  but 
I  am  not  so  sure  we  could  do  much  with  the  blacks. 
If  we  were  to  arm  them,  I  fear  that  in  a  few  weeks 
the  arms  would  be  in  the  hands  of  the  rebels;  and, 
indeed,  thus  far,  we  have  not  had  arms  enough  to 


200  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

equip  our  white  troops.  I  will  mention  another 
thing,  though  it  meet  only  your  scorn  and  contempt, 
There  are  50,000  bayonets  in  the  Union  army  from 
the  border  slave  states.  It  would  be  a  serious  matter 
if,  in  consequence  of  a  proclamation  such  as  you  de- 
sire, they  should  go  over  to  the  rebels.  I  do  not, 
think  they  all  would — not  so  man}',  indeed,  as  a  year 
ago,  or  as  six  months  ago — not  so  many  to-day  as 
yesterday. 

Every  day  increases  their  Union  feeling.  They  are 
also  getting  their  pride  enlisted,  and  want  to  beat  the 
rebels.  Let  me  say  one  thing  more:  I  think  you 
should  admit  that  we  already  have  an  important 
principle  to  rally  and  unite  the  people,  in  the  fact 
that  constitutional  government  is  at  stake.  This  is  a 
fundamental  idea  going  down  about  as  deep  as  any 
thing. 

Do  not  misunderstand  me  because  I  have  men- 
tioned these  objections.  They  indicate  the  difficul- 
ties that  have  thus  far  prevented  my  action  in  some 
such  way  as  you  desire.  I  have  not  decided  against 
a  proclamation  of  liberty  to  the  slaves,  but  hold  the 
matter  under  advisement.  And  I  can  assure  you 
that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind,  by  day  and  night, 
more  than  any  other.  "Whatever  shall  appear  to  be 
God's  will  I  will  do.  I  trust  that  in  the  freedom 
with  which  I  have  canvassed  your  views  I  have  not 
in  any  respect  injured  your  feelings. 

Proclamation  of  Emancipation. 
I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  201 

navy  thereof,  do  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that 
hereafter,  as  heretofore,  the  war  will  be  prosecuted 
for  the  object  of  practically  restoring  the  constitu- 
tional relation  between  the  United  States  and  each 
of  the  states,  and  the  people  thereof,  in  which  states 
that  relation  is  or  may  be  suspended  or  disturbed. 

That  it  is  my  purpose,  upon  the  next  meeting  of 
Congress,  to  again  recommend  the  adoption  of  a  prac- 
tical measure  tendering  pecuniary  aid  to  the  free 
acceptance  or  rejection  of  all  slave  states  so  called — 
the  people  whereof  may  not  then  be  in  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  and  which  states  may  then 
have  voluntarily  adopted,  or  thereafter  may  volun- 
tarily adopt,  immediate  or  gradual  abolishment  of 
slavery  within  their  respective  limits;  and  that  the 
effort  to  colonize  persons  of  African  descent,  with 
their  consent,  upon  this  continent  or  elsewhere,  with 
the  previously  obtained  consent  of  the  governments 
existing  there,  will  be  continued. 

That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixtj'-three,  all 
pel-sons  held  as  slaves  within  any  state,  or  designated, 
part  of  a  state,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free ;  and  the  Executive 
Department  of  the  United  States,  including  the  mili- 
tary and  naval  authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no 
act  or  acts  to  repress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them,  in 
any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
by  proclamation  aforesaid,  designate  the  states  and 


202  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

parts  of  states,  if  any,  in  which  the  people  thereof  re- 
spectively shall  then  he  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
State  ;  and  the  fact  that  any  state,  or  the  people  there- 
of, shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  represented  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  members  chosen 
thereto  at  election  wherein  a  majority  of  the  qualified 
voters  of  such  state  shall  have  participated,  shall,  in 
the  absence  of  strong  countervailing  testimony,  be 
deemed  conclusive  evidence  that  such  state,  and  the 
people  thereof,  are  not  then  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States. 

The  attention  is  hereby  called  to  an  act  of  Con- 
gress, entitled : 

"AN  ACT  to  make  an  additional  Article  of  "War"  approved  March 
13,  1862,  and  which  act  is  in  the  words  and  figures  following: 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  einei  House  of  Eepresenta- 
Hves  of  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  asseiyi- 
/'/"/,  That  hereafter  the  following  shall  be  promul- 
gated as  an  additional  article  of  war  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be 
obeyed  and  observed  as  such  : 

Article. — All  officers  or  persons  in  the  military  or 
naval  service  of  the  United  States  are  prohibited  from 
employing  any  of  the  forces  under  their  respective 
commands  for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives  from 
service  or  labor  who  may  have  escaped  from  any  per- 
sons to  whom  such  service  or  labor  is  claimed  to  be 
due;  and  any  officer  who  shall  be  found  guilty  by  a 
court-martial  of  violating  this  article  shall  be  dis- 
missed from  the  service. 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  203 

Sec.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  this  act  shall 
take  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Also,  to  the  ninth  and  tenth  sections  of  an  act  en- 
titled "An  act  to  Suppress  Insurrection,  to  Punish 
Treason  and  Rebellion,  to  Seize  and  Confiscate  Prop- 
erty of  Rebels,  and  for  Other  Purposes,"  approved 
July  16,  1862,  and  which  sections  are  in  the  words 
and  figures  following: 

Sec  0.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  all  slaves  of 
persons  who  shall  hereafter  be  engaged  in  rebellion 
against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  or  who 
shall  in  any  way  give  aid  or  comfort  thereto,  escaping 
from  such  persons  and  taking  refuge  within  the  lines 
of  the  army;  and  all  slaves  captured  from  such  per- 
sons, or  deserted  by  them  and  coming  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Government  of  the  United  States;  and 
all  slaves  of  such  persons  found  on  [or]  being  within 
any  place  occupied  by  rebel  forces  and  afterwards 
occupied  by  forces  of  the  United  States,  shall  be 
deemed  captives  of  war,  and  shall  be  forever  free  of 
their  servitude,  and  not  again  held  as  slaves. 

Sec  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  no  slave  es- 
caping into  any  state,  territory,  or  the  District  of 
Columbia,  from  any  other  state,  shall  be  delivered 
up,  or  in  any  way  impeded  or  hindered  of  his  liberty, 
except  for  crime,  or  some  offense  against  the  laws, 
unless  the  person  claiming  such  fugitive  shall  first 
make  oath  that  the  person  to  whom  the  labor  or 
service  of  such  fugitive  is  alleged  to  be  due  is  his 
lawful  owner,  and  has  not  borne  arms  against  the 
United  States  in  the  present  rebellion,  nor  in  any 
way  given  aid  or  comfort  thereto ;  and  no  person  en- 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

gaged  in  the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  shall,  under  any  pretense  whatever,  assume  to 
decide  on  the  validity  of  the  claim  of  any  person  to 
the  service  or  labor  of  any  other  person,  or  surrender 
up  any  such  person  to  the  claimant,  on  pain  of  being 
dismissed  from  the  service. 

And  I  do  hereby  enjoin  upon  and  order  all  persons 
engaged  in  the  military  or  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  to  observe,  obey,  and  enforce,  within  their  re- 
spective spheres  of  service,  the  act  and  sections  above 
recited. 

And  the  Executive  will  in  due  time  recommend 
that  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  shall  have 
remained  loyal  thereto  throughout  the  rebellion, 
shall  (upon  the  restoration  of  the  constitutional  rela- 
tion between  the  United  States  and  their  respective 
states  and  people,  if  that  relation  shall  have  been 
suspended  or  disturbed)  be  compensated  for  all  losses 
by  acts  of  the  United  States,  including  the  loss  of 
slaves. 

In  witness  whereof,!  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  twenty-second 
day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  and  of  the  inde- 
pendence of   the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Speech  at  Serenade  in  Honor  of  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation,  September  24, 1802. 
Fellow-citizens :  —  I  appear  before  you  to  do  little 
more  than  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  you  pay  me, 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  205 

and  to  thank  yon  for  it.  I  have  not  been  distinctly 
informed  why  it  is  on  this  occasion  you  appear  to  do 
me  this  honor,  though  I  suppose  it  is  because  of  the 
proclamation.  I  was  about  to  say,  I  suppose  I  under- 
stand it.  What  I  did,  I  did  after  very  full  delibera- 
tion, and  under  a  very  heavy  and  solemn  sense  of 
responsibility.  I  can  only  trust  in  God  I  have  made 
no  mistake.  I  shall  make  no  attempt  on  this  occa- 
sion to  sustain  what  1  have  done  or  said  by  any  com- 
ment. It  is  now  for  the  country  and  the  world  to 
pass  judgment  upon  it,  and,  may  be,  take  action  upon 
it.  I  will  say  no  more  upon  this  subject.  In  my 
position  I  am  environed  with  difficulties.  Yet  they 
are  scarcely  so  great  as  the  difficulties  of  those  who, 
upon  the  battle  field,  are  endeavoring  to  purchase 
with  their  blood  and  their  lives  the  future  happiness 
and  prosperity  of  the  country.  Let  us  never  forget 
them.  On  the  fourteenth  and  seventeenth  days  of 
the  present  month  there  have  been  battles  bravely, 
skillfully,  and  successfully  fought.  We  do  not  yet 
know  the  particulars.  Let  us  be  sure  that  in  giving 
praise  to  particular  individuals,  we  do  no  injustice  to 
others.  I  only  ask  you  at  the  conclusion  of  these 
few  remarks  to  give  three  hearty  cheers  to  all  good 
and  brave  officers  and  men  who  fought  these  suc- 
cessful  battles. 

To  Major  John  J.  Key. 

K.rccutive  Mansion,  Washington,  September  26, 1862. 

Sir: —  I  am  informed  that  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  Why  was  not  the  rebel  army  bagged  immedi- 
ately after  the  battle  near  Sharpsburg?"  propounded 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  S 

to  you  by  Major  Levi  C.  Turner,  Judge  Advocate, 
etc.,  you  answered  :  k'  That  is  not  the  game.  The 
object  is,  that  neither  army  shall  get  much  advantage 
of  the  other;  that  both  shall  be  kept  in  the  field  till 
they  are  exhausted,  when  we  will  make  a  compromise 
and  save  slavery.*' 

I  shall  be  very  happy  if  you  will,  within  twenty- 
four  hours  from  the  receipt  of  this,  prove  to  me  by 
Major  Turner  that  you  did  not,  either  literally  or  in 
substance,  make  the  answer  stated.     Yours, 

A.  Lincoln. 

At  about  eleven  o'clock  a.  m.,  September  27, 1862, 
Major  Key  and  Major  Turner  appeared  before  me. 
Major  Turner  says,  "As  I  remember  it,  the  conversa- 
tion was  :  I  asked  the  question,  why  we  did  not  bag 
them  after  the  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  Major  Key's 
reply  was,  That  was  not  the  game:  that  we  should 
tire  the  rebels  out  and  ourselves;  that  that  was  the 
only  way  the  Union  could  be  preserved ;  we  come  to- 
gether fraternally,  and  slavery  be  saved.'' 

On  cross-examination  Major  Turner  says  he  has 
frequently  beard  Major  Key  converse  in  regard  to 
the  present  troubles,  and  never  heard  him  utter  a 
sentiment  unfavorable  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union.  He  has  never  lettered  any  thing  which  he, 
Major  Turner,  would  call  disloyalty.  The  particular 
conversation  detailed  was  a  private  one. 

A.  Lincoln. 

INDORSED  ON  THE  ABOVE. 

In  my  view  it  is  wholly  inadmissible  for  any  gen- 
tleman  holding    a    military    commission    from    the 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  207 

United  States  to  utter  such  sentiments  as  Major  Key 
is  within  proved  to  have  done.  Therefore,  let  Major 
John  J.  Key  be  forthwith  dismissed  from  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Thomas  II.  Clay,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

War  Department,  October  8,  1862. 

You  can  not  have  reflected  seriously  when  you  ask 
that  I  shall  order  General  Morgan's  command  to  Ken- 
tucky as  a  favor  because  they  have  marched  from 
Cumberland  Gap.  The  precedent  established  by  it 
would  eventually  break  up  the  whole  army.  Buell's 
old  troops  now  in  pursuit  of  Bragg  have  done  more 
hard  marching  recently;  and,  in  fact,  if  you  include 
marching  and  fighting,  there  are  scarcely  any  old 
troops  east  or  west  of  the  mountains  that  have  not 
done  as  hard  service. 

I  sincerely  wish  war  was  an  easier  and  pleasanter 
business  than  it  is,  but  it  does  not  admit  of  holidays. 
On  Morgan's  command,  where  it  is  now  sent,  as  I  un- 
derstand, depends  the  question  whether  the  enemy 
will  get  to  the  Ohio  river  in  another  place. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  McClellan,  October  13, 1862. 

M\j  Dear  Sir. — You  remember  my  speaking  to  you 
of  what  I  called  your  over-cautiousness.  Are  you 
not  over-cautious  when  you  assume  that  you  can  not 
do  what  the  enemy  is  constantly  doing?  Should  you 
not  claim  to  be  at  least  his  equal  in  prowess  and  act 
upon  the  claim  ? 

As  I  understand  you  telegraphed  General  Halleck 


208  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

that  you  can  not  subsist  your  army  at  Winchester, 
unless  the  railroad  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  that  point 
be  put  in  working  order.  But  the  enemy  does  now 
.subsist  his  army  at  Winchester  at  a  distance  nearly 
twice  as  great  from  railroad  transportation  as  you 
would  have  to  do  without  the  railroad  last  named. 
He  now  wagons  from  Culpepper  Court-house,  which 
is  just  about  twice  as  far  as  you  would  have  to  do 
from  Harper's  Ferry.  He  is  certainly  not  more  than 
half  as  well  provided  with  wagons  as  you  are.  I  cer- 
tainly should  be  pleased  for  you  to  have  the  advantage 
of  the  railroad  from  Harper's  Ferry  to  Winchester; 
but  it  wastes  all  the  remainder  of  autumn  to  giye  it 
to  you,  and  in  fact  ignores  the  question  of  time,  which 
can  not  and  must  not  be  ignored.  Again,  one  of  the 
standard  maxims  of  Avar,  as  you  know,  is  "  to  operate 
upon  the  enemy's  communications  as  much  as  possi- 
ble without  exposing  your  own."'  You  seem  to  act  as 
if  this  applies  against  you,  but  can  not  apply  in  3-our 
favor.  Change  positions  with  the  enemy,  and  think 
you  not  he  would  break  your  communication  with 
Richmond  within  the  next  twenty -four  hours?  You 
dread  his  going  into  Pennsylvania. 

But  if  he  does  so  in  full  force  he  gives  up  his  com- 
munications to  you  absolutely,  and  you  have  nothing 
to  do  but  to  follow  and  ruin  him;  if  he  does  so  with 
less  than  full  force,  fall  upon  and  beat  what  is  left 
behind  all  the  easier. 

Exclusive  of  the  water  line,  you  are  now  nearer 
Richmond  than  the  enemy  is  by  the  route  that  you 
can,  and  he  must  take. 

Why  can  you  not  reach  there  before  him,  unless 


PEN    AXD    VOICE.  20fJ 

you  admit  that  he  is  more  than  your  equal  on  a 
march.  His  route  is  the  arc  of  a  circle,  while  yours 
is  the  chord.  The  roads  are  as  good  on  yours  as  on 
his. 

You  know  I  desired,  but  did  not  order,  you  to 
cross  the  Potomac  below  instead  of  above  the  Shen- 
andoah and  Blue  Ridge. 

My  idea  was,  that  this  would  at  once  menace  the 
enemy's  communications,  which  I  would  seize  if  he 
would  permit.  If  he  should  move  northward,  I 
would  follow  him  closely,  holding  his  communica- 
tions. If  he  should  prevent  our  seizing  his  communi- 
cations, and  move  toward  Richmond,  I  would  press 
closely  to  him,  right  him  if  a  favorable  opportunity 
should  present,  and  at  least  try  to  beat  him  to  Rich- 
mond on  the  inside  track.  I  say  "try;"  if  we  never 
try,  we  shall  never  succeed.  If  he  make  a  stand  at 
Winchester,  moving  neither  north  nor  south,  I  would 
tight  him  there,  on  the  idea  that  if  we  can  not  beat 
him,  when  he  bears  the  wastage  of  coming  to  us,  we 
never  can  when  we  bear  the  wastage  of  going  to  him. 
This  proposition  is  a  simple  truth,  and  is  too  im- 
portant to  be  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment.  In  coming 
to  us,  he  tenders  us  an  advantage  which  we  should 
not  waive.  We  should  not  so  operate  as  to  merely 
drive  him  away.  As  we  must  beat  him  somewhere, 
or  fail  finally,  we  can  do  it,  if  at  all,  easier  near  to 
us  than  far  away.  If  we  can  not  beat  the  enemy 
where  he  now  is,  we  never  can,  he  again  being  within 
the  intrenchments  at  Richmond.  Recurring  to  the 
idea  of  going  to  Richmond  on  the  inside  track,  tin- 
facility  of  supplying  from  the  side  away  from  the 
18 


210  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  S 

enemy,  is  remarkable,  as  it  were,  by  the  different 
spokes  of  a  wheel,  extending  from  the  hub  toward 
the  rim,  and  this  whether  you  move  directly  by  the 
chord  or  on  the  inside  arc,  hugging  the  Blue  Ridge 
more  closely.  The  chord  line,  as  you  see,  carries  you 
by  Aldie,  Haymarket,  and  Fredericksburg,  and 
you  see  how  turnpikes,  railroads,  and  finally  the 
Potomac,  by  Aquia  creek,  meet  you  at  all  points 
from  Washington.  The  same,  only  the  lines  length- 
ened a  little,  if  you  press  closer  to  the  Blue  Ridge 
part  of  the  way.  The  gaps  through  the  Blue  Ridge 
I  understand  to  be  about  the  following  distances  from 
Harper's  Ferry,  to  wit :  Vestals,  five  miles  ;  Gregory's, 
thirteen  ;  Snicker's,  eighteen  ;  Ashby's,  twenty-eight; 
Manassas,  thirty-eight  ;  Chester,  forty-five  ;  and 
Thornton's,  fifty-three.  I  should  think  it  preferable 
to  take  the  route  nearest  the  enemy,  disabling  him  to 
make  an  important  move  without  your  knowledge, 
and  compelling  him  to  keep  his  forces  together  for 
dread  of  you.  The  gaps  would  enable  you  to  attack  if 
you  should  wish.  For  a  great  part  of  the  way  you 
would  be  practically  between  the  enemy  and  both 
Washington  and  Richmond,  enabling  us  to  spare  you 
the  greatest  number  of  troops  from  here.  When,  at 
length,  running  for  Richmond  ahead  of  him,  enables 
him  to  move  this  way  ;  if  he  does  so,  turn  and  attack 
him  in  the  rear.  But  I  think  he  should  be  engaged 
long  before  such  point  is  reached.  It  is  all  easy  if  your 
troops  march  as  well  as  the  enemy,  and  it  is  unmanly 
to  say  they  can  not  do  it.  This  letter  is  in  no  sense 
an  order.     Yours, truly,  A.  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  211 

Order  Establishing  a  Provisional  Court. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Oct.  20,  1862. 
The  insurrection  which  has  for  some  time  prevailed 
in  several  of  the  states  in  this  Union,  including  Louis- 
iana, having  temporarily  subverted  and  swept  away  the 
civil  institutions  of  that  state,  including  the  judiciary 
and  the  judicial  authorities  of  the  Union,  so  that  it  has 
become  necessary  to  hold  the  state  in  military  occupa- 
tion, and  it  being  indispensably  necessary  that  there 
shall  be  some  judicial  tribunal  existing  there  capable 
of  administering  justice,  I  have  therefore  thought  it 
proper  to  appoint,  and  I  do  hereby  constitute  a  pro- 
visional court,  which  shall  be  a  court  of  record  for  the 
State  of  Louisiana,  and  I  do  hereby  appoint  Charles 
A.  Peabody,  of  New  York,  to  be  a  provisional  judge 
to  hold  such  court,  with  authority  to  hear,  try,  and 
determine  all  causes,  civil  and  criminal,  including 
causes  in  law,  equity,  revenue,  and  admiralty,  and 
particularly  with  all  such  powers  and  jurisdiction  as 
belong  to  the  district  and  circuit  court  of  the  United 
States,  conforming  his  proceedings,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  the  course  of  proceedings  and  practice  which  has 
been  customary  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  and 
Louisiana — his  judgment  to  be  final  and  conclusive. 
And  I  do  hereby  authorize  and  empower  the  said 
iudire  to  make  and  establish  such  rules  and  reerula- 
tions  as  maybe  necessary  for  the  exercise  of  his  ju- 
risdiction, and  to  appoint  a  prosecuting  attorney,  mar- 
shal and  clerk  of  the  said  court,  who  shall  perform  the 
functions  of  attorney,  marshal  and  clerk  according  to 
such  proceedings  and  practice  as  before  mentioned, 
and  such  rules  and  regulations  as  may  be  made  and 


212  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

established  by  said  judge.  These  appointments  are 
to  continue  during  the  pleasure  of  the  president,  not 
extending  beyond  the  military  occupation  of  the  city 
of  ISTew  Orleans,  or  the  restoration  of  the  civil  author- 
ity in  that  city  and  in  the  State  of  Louisiana.  These 
officers  shall  be  paid  out  of  the  contingent  fund  of  the 
war  department.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Letter  Given  to  Thomas  R.  Smith,  of  Bolivar,  Tenx 

October  31,  1862. 
Major-General  Grant,  Governor  Johnson,  and  all 
having  military,  naval  and  civil  authorities  under  the 
United  States  within  the  State  of  Tennessee :  The 
bearer  of  this,  Thomas  R.  Smith,  a  citizen  of  Tennes- 
see, goes  to  that  state,  seeking  to  have  such  of  the 
people  thereof  as  desire  to  avoid  the  unsatisfactory 
prospect  before  them,  and  to  have  peace  again  upon 
the  old  terms,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  to  manifest  such  desire  by  election  of  members 
to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  particularly,  and 
perhaps  a  legislature,  state  officers,  and  a  United 
States  senator,  friendly  to  their  object.  1  shall  be 
glad  for  you  and  each  of  you,  to  aid  him,  and  all 
others  acting  for  this  object,  as  much  as  possible.  In 
all  available  ways  give  the  people  a  chance  to  express 
their  wishes  at  these  elections.  Follow  law  and  forms 
of  law  as  far  as  convenient;  but,  at  all  events,  get  the 
expression  of  the  largest  number  of  people  possible. 
All  see  how  such  an  action  will  connect  with  and  af- 
fect the  proclamation  of  September  22.  Of  course  the 
men  elected  should  be  gentlemen  of  character,  willing 
to  swear  to  support  the  constitution  as  of  old,  and 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  213 

known  to  be  above  reasonable  suspicion  of  duplic- 
ity. Yours  very  respectfully,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  McClellan,  October  25,  1862. 
I  have  just   read  your  dispatch  about  sore-tongue 
and  fatigued  horses.     Will  you  pardon  me  for  asking 
what  the  horses  of  your  army  have  done  since  the  bat- 
tle of  Antietam  that  fatigues  any  thing? 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  McClellan,  October  26,  1862. 
Yours  in  reply  to  mine  about  horses  received.  Of 
course  you  know  the  facts  better  than  I.  Still,  two 
considerations  remain;  Stuart's  cavalry  outmarched 
ours,  having  certainly  done  more  marked  service  on 
the  peninsula  and  every  where  since.  Secondly;  will 
not  a  movement  of  our  army  be  a  relief  to  the  cavalry, 
compelling  the  enemy  to  concentrate  instead  of"  for- 
aging" in  squads  every- where  ?  But  1  am  so  rejoiced 
to  learn  from  your  dispatch  to  General  Halleck  that 
you  began  crossing  the  river  this  morning. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Executive  ATansion,  Washington,  Nov.  1,  1862. 
To  whom  it  may  concern  .-—Captain  Derrickson,  with 
his  company,  has  been  for  some  time  keeping  guard 
at  my  residence,  now  at  the  Soldiers'  Retreat.  He 
and  his  company  are  very  agreeable  to  me,  and  while 
it  is  deemed  proper  for  any  guard  to  remain,  none 
would  be  more  satisfactory  to  me  than  Captain  D — 
and  his  company.  A.  Lincoln. 


214  abraham  lincoln's 

Letter  to  Governor  Bradford,   November,  2,  1863. 

Sir: — Yours  of  the  31st  ultimo  was  received  yes- 
terday about  noon,  and  since  then  I  have  been  giving 
most  earnest  attention  to  the  subject-matter  of  it.  At 
my  call  General  Schenek  has  attended,  and  he  assures 
me  it  is  almost  certain  that  violence  will  be  used  at 
some  of  the  voting  places  on  election  day,  unless  pre- 
vented by  his  provost  guards.  He  says  that  in  some 
of  those  places  the  Union  voters  will  not  attend  at  all, 
or  run  a  ticket,  unless  they  have  assurance  of  pro- 
tection. This  makes  the  Missouri  case  of  my  action, 
in  regard  to  which  you  express  your  approval. 

The  remaining  point  of  your  letter  is  a  protest 
against  any  person  offering  to  vote  being  put  to  any 
test  not  found  in  the  laws  of  Maryland.  This  brings 
us  to  a  difference  between  Missouri  and  Maryland. 
With  the  same  reason  in  both  states,  Missouri  has, 
by  law,  provided  a  test  for  the  voter  with  reference  to 
the  present  rebellion,  while  Maryland  has  not.  For 
example,  General  Trimble,  captured  fighting  us  at 
Gettysburg,  is,  without  recanting  his  treason,  a  legal 
voter  by  the  laws  of  Maryland.  Even  General 
Schenck's  order  admits  him  to  vote,  if  he  recants 
upon  oath.  I  think  that  is  cheap  enough.  My  order 
in  Missouri,  which  you  approve,  and  General  Schenck's 
order  here,  reach  precisely  the  same  end.  Each  as- 
sures the  right  of  voting  to  all  loyal  men,  and  whether 
that  man  is  loyal,  each  allows  that  man  to  fix  by  his 
own  oath.  Your  suggestion  that  nearly  all  the  can- 
didates are  loyal  I  do  not  think  quite  meets  the  case# 

In  this  struggle  for  the  nation's  life,  I  can  not  so 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  21  5 

confidently  rely  on  those  whose  election  may  have 
depended  upon  disloyal  votes.  Such  men,  when 
elected,  may  prove  true,  but  such  votes  are  given  them 
in  expectation  that  they  will  prove  false.  Nor  do  I 
think  that  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  persistently  disloyal  from  voting,  constitutes 
just  cause  of  offense  to  Maryland.  I  think  she  has 
her  own  example  for  it.  If  1  mistake  not,  it  is  precise- 
ly what  General  1  >i x  did  when  your  excellency  was 
elected  governor.  1  revoke  the  first  of  the  three  pro- 
positions in  General  Schenck's  general  order,  No.  53, 
not  that  it  is  wrong  in  principle,  hut  because  the 
military  being  of  necessity  exclusive  judges  as  to  who 
shall  be  arrested,  the  provision  is  liable  to  abuse.  For 
the  revoked  part  I  substitute  the  following  : 

That  all  provost  marshals  and  other  military  officers 
do  prevent  all  disturbance  and  violence  at  or  about 
the  polls,  whether  offered  by  such  persons  as  above 
described,  or  by  any  other  person  or  persons  whatso- 
ever. 

The  other  two  propositions  of  the  order  I  allow  to 
stand.  General  Schenck  is  fully  determined,  and  lias 
my  strict  order  besides,  that  all  loyal  men  may  vote, 
and  vote  for  whom  they  please. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

President's  Order  relieving   General   McClellan. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  November  5,  1862. 

By  direction  of  the  President,  it  is  ordered  that 
Major-General  McClellan  be  relieved  from  the  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  that  Major- 
General  Burnside  take  command  of  that  arm  v.     Also 


216  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN^ 

that  Major-General  Hunter  take  command  of  the  corps 
in  said  army  which  is  now  "commanded  by  General 
Burnside.  That  Major-General  Fitz  John  Porter  be 
relieved  from  the  command  of  the  corps  he  now  com- 
mands in  said  army,  and  that  Major-General  Hooker 
take  command  of  such  corps. 

The  General-in-chiefis  authorized  in  (his)  discretion, 
to  issue  an  order  substantially  as  the  above,  forthwith, 
or  so  soon  as  he  may  deem  proper.         A.  Lincoln. 

Proclamation. 

Eecutive  Mansion,  Washington,  Nov.,  16,  1862. 

The  President,  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  desires  and  enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and  men  in  the  military 
and  naval  service.  The  importance  for  man  and  beast 
of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest,  the  sacred  rights  of 
Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becoming  deference 
to  the  best  sentiment  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due 
regard  for  the  Divine  will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor 
in  the  army  and  navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of 
strict  necessity. 

The  discipline  and  character  of  the  national  forces 
should  not  suffer,  nor  the  cause  they  defend  be  im- 
periled, by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or  the  name  of 
the  Most  High.  "  At  the  time  of  public  distress," 
adopting  the  words  of  Washington  in  1776,  "men  may 
rind  enough  to  do  in  the  service  of  God  and  their 
country,  without  abandoning  themselves  to  vice  and 
immorality."  The  first  general  order  issued  by  the 
Father  of  his  Country,  after  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, indicates  the  spirit  in  which  our  insti- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  217 

tutions  were  founded,  and  should  ever  be  defended. 
"The  general  hopes  and  trusts  that  every  officer  and 
man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a  Christ- 
ian soldier  defending  the  dearest  rights  and  liberties 
of  his  country."  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Carl  Schurz,  November  24,  1862. 
I  have  just  received  and  read  your  letter  of  the 
20th.  The  purport  of  it  is  that  we  lost  the  late 
elections,  and  the  administration  is  failing  because 
the  war  is  unsuccessful,  and  that  I  must  not  flatter 
myself  that  I  am  not  justly  to  blame  for  it.  I  cer- 
tainly know  that  if  the  war  fails  the  administration 
fails,  and  that  I  will  be  blamed  for  it,  whether  I  de- 
serve it  or  not.  And  I  ought  to  be  blamed,  if  I 
could  do  better.  You  think  I  could  do  better,  there- 
fore you  blame  me  already.  I  think  I  could  not  do 
better,  therefore  I  blame  you  for  blaming  me.  I  un- 
derstand you  now  to  be  willing  to  accept  the  help 
of  men  who  are  not  Republicans,  provided  they  have 
"heart  in  it."  Agreed.  I  want  no  others.  But  who 
is  to  be  the  judge  of  hearts,  or  of  "heart  in  it?" 
If  I  must  discard  my  own  judgment,  and  take  yours, 
I  must  also  take  that  of  others;  and  by  the  time  I 
should  reject  all  I  should  be  advised  to  reject,  I 
should  have  none  left,  Republicans  or  others,  not  even 
yourself,  for  be  assured,  my  dear  sir,  there  are  men 
who  have  "heart  in  it"  that  think  you  are  per- 
forming your  part  as  poorly  as  you  think  I  am  per- 
forming mine.  I  certainly  have  been  dissatisfied 
with  the  slowness  of  Buell  and  McClellan,  but  be- 
19 


218  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

fore  I  relieved  them  I  had  great  fears  I  should  not 
find  successors  to  them  who  would  do  better;  and  I 
am  sorry  to  add  that  I  have  seen  little  since  to  re- 
lieve those  fears.  I  do  not  clearly  see  the  prospect 
of  any  more  rapid  movements.  I  fear  we  shall  at 
last  find  out  the  difficulty  is  in  our  case  rather  than 
in  particular  generals.  I  wish  to  disparage  no  one, 
certainly  not  those  who  sympathize  with  me,  but  I 
must  say  I  need  success  more  than  T  need  sympathy, 
and  that  I  have  not  seen  the  so  much  greater  evi- 
dence of  getting  sin-cess  from  my  sympathizers  than 
from  those  who  are  denounced  as  the  contrary.  It 
does  seem  to  me  that  in  the  field  the  two  classes 
have  been  very  much  alike  in  what  they  have  done 
and  what  they  have  failed  to  do.  In  sealing  their 
faith  with  their  blood,  Baker,  and  Lyon,  and  Bohlen, 
and  Richardson,  Republicans,  did  all  that  men  could 
do;  but  did  they  any  more  than  Kearney,  Stevens, 
and  Reno,  and  Mansfield,  none  of  whom  were  Repub- 
licans, and  some  at  least  of  whom  have  been  bitterly 
and  repeatedly  denounced  to  me  as  secession  sympa- 
thizers? I  will  not  perform  the  ungrateful  task  of 
comparing  cases  of  failure.  In  answer  to  your  ques- 
tion, Has  it  not  been  publicly  stated  in  the  news- 
papers, and  apparently  proved  as  a  fact,  that  from 
the  commencement  of  the  war  the  enemy  was  con- 
tinually supplied  with  information  by  some  of  the 
confidential  subordinates  of  as  important  an  officer 
as  Adjutant-General  Thomas?  I  must  say,  "No,"  as 
far  as  my  knowledge  extends.  And  I  add  if  you  can 
give  any  tangible  evidence  upon  the  subject,  I  will 
thank  you  to  come  to  this  city  and  do  so. 


pen  and  voice.  219 

Second  Annual  Message,  December  1,  1862. 

Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives:—  Since  your  last  annual  assembling  another 
year  of  health  and  bountiful  harvests  has  passed. 
And  while  it  has  not  pleased  the  Almighty  to  bless 
us  with  a  return  of  peace,  we  can  but  press  on,  guided 
by  the  best  light  He  gives  us,  trusting  that  in  His 
own  good  time  and  wise  way  all  will  yet  be  well. 

The  correspondence  touching  foreign  affairs  which 
has  taken  place  during  the  last  year  is  herewith  sub- 
mitted, in  virtual  compliance  with  a  request  to  that 
effect  made  by  the  House  of  Representatives  near  the 
close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress. 

If  the  condition  of  our  relations  with  other  nations 
is  less  gratifying  than  it  has  usually  been  at  former 
periods,  it  is  certainly  more  satisfactory  than  a  nation 
so  unhappily  distracted  as  we  are,  might  reasonably 
have  apprehended.  In  the  month  of  June  last  there 
were  some  grounds  to  expect  that  the  maritime  pow- 
ers which,  at  the  beginning  of  our  domestic  difficul- 
ties, so  unwisely  and  unnecessarily,  as  we  think, 
recognized  the  insurgents  as  abelligerant,  would  soon 
recede  from  that  position,  which  has  proved  only  less 
injurious  to  themselves  than  to  our  own  country. 
But  the  temporary  reverses  which  afterward  befell  the 
national  arms,  and  which  were  exaggerated  by  our 
own  disloyal  citizens  abroad,  have  hitherto  delayed 
that  act  of  simple  justice. 

The  civil  war,  which  has  so  radically  changed,  for 
the  moment,  the  occupations  and  habits  of  the  Amer- 
ican people,  has  necessarily  disturbed  the  social  con- 


220  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

dition  and  affected  very  deeply  the  prosperity  of  the 
nations  with  which  we  have  carried  on  a  commerce 
that  has  been  steadily  increasing  throughout  a  period 
of  half  a  century.  It  has,  at  the  same  time,  excited 
political  ambitions  and  apprehensions  which  have 
produced  a  profound  agitation  throughout  the  civil- 
ized world.  In  this  unusual  agitation  we  have  for- 
borne from  taking  part  in  any  controversy  between 
foreign  states,  and  between  parties  or  factions  in  such 
states.  We  have  attempted  no  propagandism,  and 
acknowledged  no  revolution.  But  we  have  left  to 
every  nation  the  exclusive  conduct  and  management 
of  its  own  affairs.  Our  struggle  has  been,  of  course, 
contemplated  by  foreign  nations  with  reference  less 
to  its  own  merits  than  to  its  supposed  and  often  ex- 
aggerated effects  and  consequences  resulting  to  those 
nations  themselves.  Nevertheless,  complaint  on  the 
part  of  this  government,  even  if  it  were  just,  would 
certainly  be  unwise. 

The  treaty  with  Great  Britain  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave  trade  has  been  put  into  operation  with 
a  good  prospect  of  complete  success.  It  is  an  occa- 
sion of  special  pleasure  to  acknowledge  that  the  exe- 
cution of  it,  on  the  part  of  her' majesty's  government, 
has  been  marked  with  a  jealous  respect  for  the  au- 
thority of  the  United  States,  and  the  rights  of  their 
moral  and  loyal  citizens. 

The  convention  with  Hanover  for  the  abolition  of 
the  state  dues  has  been  carried  into  full  effect,  under 
the  act  of  Congress  for  that  purpose. 

A  blockade  of  three  thousand  miles  of  sea-coast 
could  not  be  established,  and  vigorously  enforced,  in 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  221 

a  season  of  great  commercial  activity  like  the  pres- 
ent, without  committing  occasional  mistakes  and  in- 
flicting unintentional  injuries  upon  foreign  nations 
and  their  subjects. 

A  civil  war,  occurring  in  a  country  where  foreign- 
ers reside,  and  carry  on  trade  under  treaty  stipula- 
tions, is  necessarily  fruitful  of  complaints  of  the 
violation  of  ueutral  rights.  All  such  collisions  tend 
to  excite  misapprehensions,  and  possibly  to  produce 
mutual  reclamations  between  nations  which  have  a 
common  interest  in  preserving  peace  and  friendship. 
In  clear  cases  of  these  kinds,  I  have,  so  far  as  possible, 
heard  and  redressed  complaints  which  have  been  pre- 
sented by  friendly  powers.  There  is  still,  however,  a 
large  and  an  augmenting  number  of  doubtful  cases 
upon  which  the  government  is  unable  to  agree  with 
the  government  whose  protection  is  demanded  by  the 
claimants. 

There  are,  moreover,  many  cases  in  which  the 
United  States,  or  their  citizens,  suffer  wrongs  from 
the  naval  or  military  authorities  of  foreign  nations, 
which  the  governments  of  those  states  are  not  at 
once  prepared  to  redress. 

I  have'  proposed  to  some  of  the  foreign  states,  thus 
interested,  mutual  conventions  to  examine  and  adjust 
such  complaints.  This  proposition  has  been  made 
especially  to  Great  Britain,  to  France,  to  Spain,  and 
to  Prussia.  In  each  case  it  has  been  kindly  received, 
but  lias  not  yet  been  formally  adopted. 

Applications  have  been  made  to  me  by  many  free 
Americans  of  African  descent  to  favor  the  emiffra- 
tion  with  a  view  to  such  colonization  as  was  contem- 


222  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

plated  in  recent  acts  of  Congress.  Other  parties,  at 
home  and  abroad — some  from  interested  motives, 
others  upon  patriotic  considerations,  and  still  others 
influenced  from  philanthropic  sentiments — have  sug- 
gested similar  measures.  While,  on  the  other  hand, 
several  of  the  Spanish-American  republics  have  pro- 
tested against  the  sending  of  such  colonies  to  their 
respective  territories.  Under  these  circumstances,  I 
have  declined  to  move  any  such  colony  to  any  state, 
without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of  its  government, 
with  an  agreement  on  its  part  to  receive  and  protect 
such  emigrants  in  all  the  rights  of  freemen  ;  and  I 
have,  at  the  same  time,  offered  to  the  several  states 
situated  within  the  tropics,  or  having  colonies  there, 
to  negotiate  with  them,  subject  to  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  Senate,  to  favor  the  voluntary  emigra- 
tion of  persons  of  that  class  to  their  respective  terri- 
tories, upon  conditions  which  shall  be  equal,  just  and 
humane.  Liberia  and  Hayti  are,  as  yet,  the  only 
countries  to  which  colonists  of  African  descent  from 
here  could  go  with  certainty  of  being  received  and 
adopted  as  citizens ;  and  I  regret  to  say  such  persons, 
contemplating  colonization,  do  not  seem  so  willing  to 
migrate  to  those  countries  as  to  some  others,  nor  so 
willing  as  I  think  their  interest  demands.  I  believe, 
however,  opinion  among  them  in  this  respect  is  im- 
proving; and  that,  ere  long,  there  will  be  an  aug- 
mented and  considerable  migration  to  both  those 
countries  from  the  .United  States. 

On  the  22d  day  of  September  last,  a  proclamation 
was  issued  by  the  Executive,  a  copy  of  which  is  here- 
with submitted. 


PEN  AND  VOICE. 


223 


In  accordance  with  the  purpose  expressed  in  the 
second  paragraph  of  that  paper,  I  now  respectfully 
recall  your  attention  to  what  maybe  called  "  com- 
pensated emancipation." 

A  nation  may  be  said  to  consist  of  its  territory,  its 
people,  and  its  laws.  The  territory  is  the  only  part 
which  is  of  certain  durability.  "One  generation 
passeth  away,  and  another  generation  cometh,  but 
the  earth  abideth  forever."  It  is  of  the  first  import- 
ance to  duly  consider  and  estimate  this  ever  endur- 
ing part.  That  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  which 
is  owned  and  inhabited  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States  is  well  adapted  to  be  the  home  of  one  national 
family,  and  it  is  not  well  adapted  for  two,  or  more. 
Its  vast  extant,  and  its  variety  of  climate  and  pro- 
ductions, arc  of  advantage,  in  this  age,  for  one  peo- 
ple, whatever  they  might  have  been  in  former  ages. 
Steam,  telegraphs,  and  intelligence  have  brought 
these  to  be  an  advantageous  combination  for  one 
united  people. 

In  the  inaugural  address,  I  briefly  pointed  out  the 
total  inadequacy  of  disunion  as  a  remedy  for  the  dif- 
ferences between  the  people  and  the  two  sections. 
There  is  no  line,  straight  or  crooked,  suitable  for  a 
national  boundary  upon  which  to  divide.  Trace 
through,  from  east  to  west,  upon  the  line  between 
the  free  and  slave  country,  and  we  shall  find  a  little 
more  than  one-third  of  its  length  are  rivers,  easy  to 
be  crossed,  and  populated,  or  soon  to  be  populated, 
thickly,  upon  both  sides;  while  nearly  all  its  remain- 
ing length  are  merely  surveyors'  lines,  over  which 
people  may  walk  back  and  forth  without  any  con- 


224  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

sciousness  of  their  presence.  No  part  of  this  line  can 
be  made  any  more  difficult  to  pass  by  writing  it 
down  on  paper  or  parchment  as  a  national  boundary. 
The  fact  of  separation,  if  it  comes,  gives  up,  on  the 
part  of  the  seceding  section,  the  fugitive  slave  cause, 
along  with  all  other  constitutional  obligations  upon 
the  section  seceded  from,  while  I  should  expect  no 
treaty  stipulation  would  ever  be  made  to  take  its 
place. 

But  there  is  another  difficulty.  The  great  interior 
region,  bounded  east  by  the  Alleghanies,  north  by 
the  British  Dominions,  west  by  the  Rocky  mountains, 
and  south  by  the  line  along  which  the  culture  of  corn 
and  cotton  meets,  and  which  includes  part  of  Vir- 
ginia, part  of  Tennessee,  all  of  Kentucky,  Ohio,  In- 
diana, Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Missouri,  Kan- 
sas, Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  the  territories  of  Dakota, 
Nebraska,  and  part  of  Colorado,  already  has  above 
ten  million  people,  and  will  have  fifty  million  within 
fifty  years,  if  not  prevented  by  any  political  folly  or 
mistake.  It  contains  more  than  one-third  of  the 
country  owned  by  the  United  States — certainly  more 
than  one  million  square  miles.  Once  half  as  popu- 
lous as  Massachusetts  already  is,  it  would  have  more 
than  seventy-five  million  people.  A  glance  at  the 
map  shows  that,  territorially  speaking,  it  is  the  great 
body  of  the  republic. 

The  other  parts  are  but  marginal  borders  to  it,  the 
magnificent  region  sloping  west  from  the  Rocky 
mountains  to  the  Pacific,  being  the  deepest  and  also 
the  richest  in  undeveloped  resources.  In  the  produc- 
tion  of  provisions,  grains,  grasses,  and  all  which  pro- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  22-f> 

ceed  from  them,  this  great  interior  region  is  naturally 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  world.  Ascertain 
from  the  statistics  the  small  proportion  of  the  region 
which  has,  as  yet,  been  brought  into  cultivation,  and 
also  the  large  and  rapidly  increasing  amount  of  its 
products,  and  we  shall  be  overwhelmed  with  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  prospect  presented.  And  yet  this  region 
has  no  sea-coast;  touches  no  ocean  anywhere.  As 
part  of  one  nation,  its  people  now  find,  and  may  for- 
ever find,  their  way  to  Europe  by  New  York,  to 
ISouth  America  and  Africa  by  New  Orleans,  and  to 
Asia  by  San  Francisco.  But  separate  our  common 
country  into  two  nations,  as  designed  by  the  present 
rebellion,  and  every  man  of  this  great  interior  region 
is  thereby  cut  oft"  from  some  one  or  more  of  these  out- 
lets, not,  perhaps,  by  a  physical  barrier,  but  by  em- 
barassing  and  onerous  trade  regulations. 

And  this  is  true  wherever  a  dividing  or  boundary 
line  may  be  fixed.  Place  it  between  the  now  free  and 
slave  country,  or  place  it  south  of  Kentucky,  or  north 
of  Ohio,  and  still  the  truth  remains,  that  none  south 
of  it  can  trade  to  any  port  or  place  north  of  it,  and 
none  north  of  it  can  trade  to  any  port  or  place  south 
of  it,  except  upon  terms  dictated  by  a  government 
foreign  to  them.  These  outlets,  east,  west  and  south, 
are  indispensable  to  the  well-being  of  the  people  in- 
habiting, and  to  inhabit  this  vast  interior  region. 
Which  of  the  three  may  be  the  best  is  no  proper  ques- 
tion. All  are  better  than  either;  and  all  of  right  be- 
long to  that  people,  and  to  their  successors  forever. 
True  to  themselves,  they  will  not  ask  where  a  line  of 
separation   shall  .be,  but  will  vow  rather  that  there 


226  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

shall  be  no  such  line.  Xor  are  the  marginal  regions 
less  interested  in  these  communications  to  and  through 
them,  to  the  great  outside  world.  They,  too,  and 
each  of  them,  must  have  access  to  this  Egypt  of  the 
west,  without  paying  toll  at  the  crossing  of  any  na- 
tional boundary. 

Our  national  strife  springs  not  from  our  permanent 
part;  not  from  the  land  we  inhabit:  not  from  our  na- 
tional homestead.  There  is  no  possible  severing  of 
this,  but  would  multiply,  and  not  mitigate  evils 
among  us.  In  all  its  adaptations  and  aptitudes,  it  de- 
mands union,  and  abhors  separation.  In  fact,  it 
would,  ere  long,  force  reunion,  however  much  of 
blood  and  treasure  the  separation  might  have  cost. 

Our  strife  pertains  to  ourselves — to  the  passing  gen- 
orations  of  men;  and  it  can,  without  convulsion,  be 
hushed  forever  with  the  passing  of  one  generation. 

In  this  view,  I  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  and  articles  amendatory  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States: 

"  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representative? 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled 
(two-thirds  of  both  houses  concurring),  That  the  fol- 
lowing articles  be  proposed  to  the  legislature  (or 
conventions)  of  the  several  states  as  amendments  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  all  or  any  of 
which  articles  when  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the 
said  legislature  (or  conventions),  to  be  valid  as  part 
or  parts  of  the  said  Constitution,  namely  : 

"Article — Everv  state,  wherein  slavery  now  exists, 
which  shall  abolish  the  same  therein,  at  any  time,  or 
times,  before  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  227 

our  Lord  one  thousand  nine  hundred,  shall  receive 
compensation    from    the    United    States,  as  follows, 

to  wit : 

The  President  of  the  United  States  shall  deliver  to 
every  such  state  bonds  of  the  United  States,  bearing 

interest  at  the  rate  of for  each  slave  shown  to 

have  been  therein  by  the  eighth  census  of  the  United 
States,  such  bonds  to  be  delivered  to  such  states  by 
installments,  or  in  one  parcel,  at  the  completion  of  the 
abolishment,  accordingly  as  the  same  shall  have  been 
gradual,  or  at  one  time,  within  such  state;  and  in- 
terest shall  begin  to  run  upon  any  such  bond  only 
from  the  proper  time  of  its  delivery  as  aforesaid. 

Any  state  having  received  bonds  as  aforesaid,  and 
afterward  reintroducing  or  tolerating  slavery  therein, 
shall  refund  to  the  United  States  the  bonds  so  re- 
ceived, or  the  value  thereof,  and  all  interest  paid 
thereon. 

"Article — All  slaves  who  shall  have  enjoyed  actual 
freedom  by  the  chances  of  the  war  at  any  time  before 
the  end  of  the  rebellion,  shall  be  forever  free;  but  all 
owners  of  such,  who  shall  not  have  been  disloyal, 
shall  be  compensated  for  them,  at  the  same  rates  as  is 
provided  for  states  adopting  abolishment  of  slavery, 
but  in  such  way  that  no  slave  shall  be  twice  ac- 
counted for. 

"Article — Congress  may  appropriate  money  and 
otherwise  provide  for  colonizing  free  colored  persons, 
with  their  own  consent,  at  any  place  or  places  with- 
out the  United  States." 

I  beg  indulgence  to  discuss  these  proposed  articles 
at  some  length.     Without  slavery  the  rebellion  could 


228  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

never  have  existed  ;  without  slavery  it  could  not  con- 
tinue. 

Among  the  friends  of  the  Union  there  is  great  di- 
versity of  sentiment  and  of  policy  in  regard  to 
slavery  and  the  African  race  among  us.  Some  would 
perpetuate  slavery ;  some  would  abolish  it  suddenly, 
and  without  compensation;  some  would  abolish  it 
gradually,  and  with  compensation;  some  would  re- 
move the  freed  people  from  us,  and  some  would  re- 
tain them  with  us;  and  there  are  vet  other  minor  di- 
versities.  Because  of  these  diversities,  we  waste 
much  strength  in  struggles  among  ourselves.  By 
mutual  concession  we  should  harmonize  and  act  to- 
gether. This  would  be  compromise,  but  it  would  be 
compromise  among  the  friends,  and  not  with  the  en- 
emies of  the  Union.  These  articles  are  intended  to 
embody  a  plan  of  such  mutual  concessions.  If  the 
plan  shall  be  adopted,  it  is  assumed  that  emancipa- 
tion will  follow,  at  least,  in  several  of  the  states. 

As  to  the  first  article,  the  main  points  are,  first,  the 
emancipation  ;  secondly,  the  length  of  time  for  con- 
summating it — thirty-seven  years — and,  thirdly,  the 
compensation. 

The  emancipation  will  be  unsatisfactory  to  the  ad- 
vocates of  perpetual  slavery  ;  but  the  length  of  time 
should  greatly  mitigate  their  dissatisfaction.  The 
time  spares  both  races  from  the  evils  of  sudden  de- 
rangement— in  fact,  from  the  necessity  of  any  derange- 
ment— while  most  of  those  whose  habitual  course  of 
thought  will  be  disturbed  by  the  measure  will  have 
passed  away  before  its  consummation.  They  will 
never  see  it.     Another  class  will  hail  the  prospect  of 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  229 

emancipation,  bul  will  deprecate  the  length  of  time. 
They  will  feel  thai  it  gives  too  little  to  the  now  liv- 
ing slaves.  But  it  really -gives  them  much.  It  saves 
them  from  the  vagrant  destitution  which  must  largely 
attend  immediate  emancipation  in  localities  where 
their  numbers  arc  very  great ;  and  it  gives  the  inspir- 
ing assurance  that  their  posterity  shall  he  free  for- 
ever. The  plan  leaves  to  each  state,  choosing  to  act 
under  it,  to  abolish  slavery  now  or  at  the  end  of  the 
century,  or  at  any  intermediate  time,  or  by  degrees,  ex- 
tending over  the  whole  or  any  part  of  the  period; 
and  it  obliges  no  two  states  to  proceed  alike. 

It  also  provides  for  compensation,  and  generally, 
the  mode  of  making  it.  This,  it  would  seem,  must 
further  mitigate  the  dissatisfaction  of  those  who  favor 
perpetual  slavery,  and  especially  of  those  who  are  to 
receive  the  compensation.  Doubtless  some  of  those 
who  are  to  pay,  and  not  to  receive,  will  object.  Yet 
the  measure  is  both  just  and  economical.  In  a  cer- 
tain sense,  the  liberation  of  slaves  is  the  destruction 
of  property — property  acquired  by  descent,  or  by  pur- 
chase, the  same  as  any  other  property. 

It  is  no  less  true  for  having  been  often  said,  that 
the  people  of  the  South  are  not  more  responsible  for 
the  original  introduction  of  this  property  than  are  the 
people  of  the  North;  and  when  it  is  remembered  how 
unhesitatingly  we  all  use  cotton  and  sugar,  and  share 
the  profits  of  dealing  in  them,  it  may  not  be  quite  safe 
to  say  that  the  South  has  been  more  responsible  than 
the  North  for  its  continuance. 

If,  then,  for  a  common  object,  this  property  is   to 


230  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

be  sacrificed,  is  it  not  just  that  it  be  done  at  a  com- 
mon charge  ? 

And  if,  with  less  money,  or  money  more  easily  paid, 
we  can  preserve  th*e  benefits  of  the  Union  by  this 
means  than  we  can  by  the  war  alone,  is  it  not  also 
economical  to  do  it?  Let  us  consider  it  then.  Let 
us  ascertain  the  sum  we  have  expended  in  the  war 
since  compensated  emancipation  was  proposed  last 
March,  and  consider  whether,  if  that  measure  had 
been  promptly  accepted,  by  even  some  of  the  slave 
states,  the  same  sum  would  not  have  done  more  to 
close  the  war  than  has  been  otherwise  done.  If  so, 
the  measure  would  save  money,  and,  in  that  view, 
would  be  a  prudent  and  economical  measure.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  not  so  easy  to  pay  something  as  it  is  to  pay 
nothing — but  it  is  easier  to  pay  a  largesum  than  it  is  to 
pay  a  larger  one.  And  it  is  easier  to  pay  any  sum  when 
we  are  able,  than  it  is  to  pay  it  before  we  arc  able. 
The  war  requires  large  sums,  and  requires  them  at 
once.  The  aggregate  sum  necessary  for  compensated 
emancipation,  of  course,  would  be  large.  But  it  would 
require  no  ready  cash,  nor  the  bonds  even,  any  faster 
than  the  emancipation  progresses.  This  might  not, 
and  probably  would  not,  close  before  the  end  of  the 
thirty-seven  years. 

At  that  time  we  shall  probably  have  a  hundred  mil- 
lion people  to  share  the  burden  instead  of  thirty-one 
millions  as  now.  And  not  only  so,  but  the  increase 
of  our  population  may  be  expected  to  continue  for  a 
long  time  after  that  period  as  rapidly  as  before;  be- 
cause our  territory  will  not  have  become  full.  I  do 
not  state  this  inconsiderately.     At  the  same  ratio  of 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  231 

increase  which  we  have  maintained,  on  an  average, 
from  our  first  national  census  in  1700,  until  that  of 
1860,  we  should,  in  1000,  have  a  population  of  103,- 
208,415.  And  why  may  we  not  continue  that  ratio 
far  beyond  that  period?  Our  abundant  room — our 
broad  national  homestead — is  our  ample  resource. 
Were  our  territory  as  limited  as  are  the  British  Isles, 
very  certainly  our  population  could  not  expand  as 
stated.  Instead  of  receiving-  the  foreign  born,  as 
now,  we  should  be  compelled  to  send  part  of  the  na- 
tive born  away. 

But  such  is  not  our  condition.  We  have  two  mil- 
lion nine  hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand  square 
miles.  Europe  has  three  million  and  eight  hundred 
thousand,  with  a  population  averaging  seventy-three 
and  one-third  persons  to  the  square  mile.  Why  may  . 
not  our  country,  at  some  time,  average  as  many?  Is 
it  less  fertile?  Has  it  more  waste  surface  by  moun- 
tains, rivers,  lakes,  deserts,  or  other  causes?  Is  it  in- 
ferior to  Europe  in  any  natural  advantage?  If  then 
we  are  at  sometime  to  be  as  populous  as  Europe, how 
soon?  As  to  when  this  may  be,  we  can  judge  by  the 
past  and  the  present;  as  to  when  it  will  be,  if  ever, 
depends  much  on  whether  we  maintain  the  Union. 

The  proposed  emancipation  would  shorten  the  war, 
perpetuate  peace,  insure  this  increase  of  population, 
and  proportionately  the  wealth  of  the  country.  With 
these,  we  should  pay  all  the  emancipation  would  cost, 
together  with  our  other  debt,  easier  than  we  should 
pay  our  other  debt  without  it.  If  we  had  allowed 
our  old  national  debt  to  run  at  six  per  cent,  per  an- 
num, simple  interest,  from  the  end  of  our  revolution- 


232  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

ary  struggle  until  to-day,  without  paying  any  thing 
on  either  principal  or  interest,  each  man  of  us  would 
owe  less  upon  that  debt  now,  than  each  man  owed  upon 
it  then  ;  and  this  because  our  increase  of  men  through 
our  whole  period  has  been  greater  than  six  per  cent., 
has  run  faster  than  the  interest  upon  the  debt.  Thus, 
lime  alone  relieves  a  debtor  nation,  so  long  as  its 
population  increases  faster  than  its  unpaid  interest 
accumulates  on  its  debt. 

This  fact  would  lie  no  excuse  for  delaying  payment 
of  what  is  justly  due,  but,  it  shows  the  great  import- 
ance of  time  in  this  connection — the  great  advantage 
of  a  policy  by  which  we  shall  not  have  to  pay  until 
we  number  a  hundred  million,  what,  by  a  different 
policy,  we  would  have  to  pay  now,  when  we  number 
but  thirty-one  millions.  In  a  word,  it  shows  that  a 
dollar  will  be  much  harder  to  pay  for  the  war  than 
will  be  a  dollar  for  emancipation  on  the  proposed 
plan.  And  then  the  latter  will  cost  no  blood,  no 
precious  life.     It  will  be  a  saving  of  both. 

As  to  the  second  article,  I  think  it  would  be  im- 
practicable to  return  to  bondage  the  class  of  persons 
therein  contemplated.  Some  of  them,  doubtless,  in 
the  property  sense, belong  to  loyal  owners,  and  hence 
provision  is  made  in  this  article  for  compensating 
such. 

The  third  article  relates  to  the  future  of  the  freed 
people.  It  does  not  oblige,  but  merely  authorizes, 
Congress  to  aid  in  colonizing  such  as  may  consent. 
This  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  objectionable  on  the 
one  hand  or  on  the  other,  insomuch  as  it  comes  to 
nothing,  unless  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the  people 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  233 

to  be  deported,  and   the   American   voters,  through 
their  representatives  in  Congress. 

I  can  not  make  it  better  known  than  it  already  is, 
that  I  strongly  favor  colonization.  And  yet  I  wish 
to  say  tbere  is  an  objection  urged  against  free  colored 
persons  remaining  in  the  country  which  is  largely 
imaginary,  if  not  some  times  malicious. 

It  is  insisted  that  their  presence  would  injure  and 
despoil  white  labor  and  white  laborers.  If  there  ever 
could  be  a  proper  time  for  mere  catch  arguments, 
that  time  surely  is  not  now. 

In  times  like  the  present,  men  should  utter  nothing 
for  which  they  would  not  willingly  be  responsible 
through  time  and  eternity.  Is  it  true,  then,  that 
colored  people  can  displace  any  more  white  labor  by 
being  free  than  by  remaining  slaves?  If  they  stay 
in  their  old  places,  they  jostle  no  white  laborers;  if 
they  leave  their  old  places,  they  leave  them  open  to 
white  laborers.  Los;icallv,  there  is  neither  more  or 
less  of  it.  Emancipation,  even  without  deportation, 
would  probably  enhance  the  wages  <>f  white  labor, 
and  very  surely  would  not  reduce  them.  Thus,  the 
customary  amount  of  labor  would  still  have  to  be 
performed. 

The  freed  people  would  surely  not  do  more  than 
their  old  proportion  of  it,  and,  very  probably,  for  a 
time  would  do  less,  leaving  an  increased  part  to  white 
laborers,  bring  their  labor  into  greater  demand,  and 
consequently  enhancing  the  wages  of  it.  With  de- 
portation, even  to  a  limited  extent,  enhanced  wages 
to  white  labor  is  mathematically  certain.  Labor  is 
like  any  other  commodity  in  the  market — increase 
20 


234  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

the  demand  for  it  and  you  increase  the  price  of  it. 
Reduce  the  supply  of  black  labor  by  colonizing  the 
black  labor  out  of  the  country,  and  by  precisely  so 
much  you  increase  the  demand  for  and  wages  of 
white  labor. 

But  it  is  dreaded  that  the  freed  people  will  swarm 
forth,  and  cover  the  whole  land.  Are  they  not 
already  in  the  land?  Will  liberation  make  them  any 
more  numerous  ?  Equally  distributed  among  the 
whites  of  the  whole  country,  and  there  would  be  but 
one  colored  to  seven  whites.  Could  the  one,  in  any 
way,  greatly  disturb  the  seven  ?  There  are  many 
communities  now,  having  more  than  one  freed  col- 
ored person  to  seven  whites;  and  this,  without  any 
apparent  consciousness  of  evil  from  it.  The  District 
of  Columbia,  and  the  states  of  Maryland  and  Dela- 
ware, are  all  in  this  condition.  The  district  has 
more  than  one  free  colored  to  six  whites  ;  and  yet,  in 
its  frequent  petitions  to  Congress,  I  believe  it  has 
never  presented  the  presence  of  free  colored  persons 
as  one  of  its  grievances.  But  why  should  emancipa- 
tion south  send  the  freed  people  north  ?  People,  of 
any  color,  seldom  run,  unless  there  be  something  to 
run  from.  Heretofore,  colored  people,  to  some  extent, 
have  fled  north  from  bondage,  and  now,  perhaps, 
from  both  bondage  and  destitution.  But  if  gradual 
emancipation  and  deportation  be  adopted,  they  will 
have  neither  to  flee  from.  Their  old  masters  will 
give  them  wages,  at  least  until  new  laborers  can  be 
procured;  and  the  freed  men,  in  turn,  will  gladly 
give  their  labor  for  the  wages,  till  new  homes  can  be 
found  for  them,  in  congenial  climes,  and  with  people 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  .       235 

of  their  own  blood  and  race.  This  proposition  can 
be  trusted  on  the  mutual  interests  involved.  And,  in 
any  event,  can  not  the  north  decide  for  itself  whether 
to  receive  them  ? 

Again,  as  practice  proves  more  than  theory,  in  any 
case,  has  there  been  any  irruption  of  colored  people 
northward  because  of  the  abolishment  of  slavery  in 
this  district  last  spring? 

What  I  have  said  of  the  proportion  of  free  colored 
persons  to  the  whites  in  the  district  is  from  the  cen- 
sus of  1860,  having  no  reference  to  persons  called 
contrabands,  nor  to  those  made  free  by  the  act  of 
Congress  abolishing  slavery  here. 

The  plan  consisting  of  these  articles  is  recom- 
mended, not  but  that  a  restoration  of  the  national 
authority  would  be  accepted  without  its  adoption. 

Nor  will  the  war,  nor  proceedings  under  the  proc- 
lamation of  September  22, 1862,  be  stayed  because  of 
the  recommendation  of  this  plan.  Its  timely  adoption, 
I  doubt  not,  would  bring  restoration,  and  thereby 
stay  both. 

And,  notwithstanding  this  plan,  the  recommenda- 
tion that  Congress  provide  by  law  for  compensating 
any  state  which  may  adopt  emancipation  before  this 
plan  shall  have  been  acted  upon,  is  hereby  earnestly 
renewed.  Such  would  be  only  an  advance  part  of 
the  plan,  and  the  same  arguments  apply  to  both. 

This  plan  is  recommended  as  a  means,  not  in  ex- 
clusion of  but  additional  to  all  others  for  restoring 
and  preserving  the  national  authority  throughout  the 
Union.  The  subject  is  presented  exclusively  in  its 
economical  aspect.     The  plan  would,  I  am  confident, 


236       •  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

secure  peace  more  speedily,  and  maintain  it  more 
permanently,  than  can  be  done  by  force  aloue  ;  while 
all  it  would  cost,  considering  amounts,  and  manner  of 
payment,  and  times  of  payment,  would  be  easier  paid 
than  will  be  the  additional  cost  of  the  war,  if  we  rely 
solely  upon  force.  It  is  much,  very  much,  that  it 
would  cost  no  blood  at  all. 

The  plan  is  proposed  as  permanent  constitutional 
law.  It  can  not  become  such  without  the  concurrence 
of,  first,  two-thirds  of  Congress,  and  afterward, 
three-fourths  of  the  states.  The  requisite  three- 
fourths  of  the  states  will  necessarily  include  seven  of 
the  slave  states.  Their  concurrence,  if  obtained,  will 
give  assurance  of  their  severally  adopting  emancipa- 
tion at  no  very  distant  day  upon  the  new  constitu- 
tional terms.  This  assurance  would  end  the  struggle 
now,  and  save  the  Union  forever. 

I  do  not  forget  the  gravity  which  should  character- 
ize a  paper  addressed  to  the  Congress  of  the  nation 
by  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation.  Xor  do  I 
forget  that  some  of  you  are  my  seniors,  nor  that 
many  of  you  have  more  experience  than  I  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs.  Yet  I  trust  that  in  view  of 
the  great  responsibility  resting  upon  me,  you  will 
perceive  no  want  of  respect  to  yourselves  in  any 
undue  earnestness  I  may  seem  to  display. 

Is  it  doubted,  then,  that  the  plan  I  propose,  if 
adopted,  would  shorten  the  war,  and  thus  lessen  its 
expenditure  of  money  and  of  blood?  Is  it  doubted 
that  it  would  restore  the  national  authority  and 
national  prosperity,  and  perpetuate  both  indefinitely  ? 
Is  it  doubted  that  we  here — Congress  and  Executive 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  237 

—can  secure  its  adoption  ?  Will  not  the  good  people 
respond  to  a  united  and  earnest  appeal  from  us?  Can 
we,  can  they,  by  any  other  moans,  so  certainly  or  so 
speedily  assure  these  vital  objects'.'1  We  can  succeed 
only  by  concert.  It  is  not  "can  any  of  us  imagine 
better,"  but  "can  we  all  do  better?"  Object  what- 
soever is  possible,  still  the  question  recurs,  "can  we 
do  better?  The  dogmas  of  the  quiet  past  are  inade- 
quate to  the  stormy  present.  The  occasion  is  piled 
high  with  difficulty,  and  we  must  rise  with  the  occa- 
sion. As  our  case  is  new,  so  we  must  think  anew 
and  act  anew.  We  must  disenthrall  ourselves,  and 
then  we  shall  save  our  country. 

Fellow  Citizens,  we  can  not  escape  history.  We 
of  this  Congress  and  this  administration,  will  be  re- 
membered in  spite  of  ourselves.  No  personal  signifi- 
cauce,  <>i'  insignificance,  ran  spare  one  or  another  of 
ns.  The  fiery  trial  through  which  we  pass  will  light 
ns  down,  in  honor  or  dishonor,  to  the  latest  genera- 
tion. We  say  we  are  for  the  Union.  The  world  will 
not  forget  that  we  say  this.  We  know  how  to  save 
the  Union.  The  world  knows  we  do  know  how  to 
save  it.  We — even  we  here — hold  the  power  and  bear 
the  responsibility,  in  giving  freedom  to  the  slave  we 
assure  freedom  to  the  free — honorable  alike  in  what 
we  give  and  what  we  preserve.  We  shall  nobly  save, 
or  meanly  lose,  the  last  best  hope  of  earth.  Other 
means  may  succeed  ;  this  could  not  fail.  The  way  is 
plain,  peaceful,  generous,  just — a  way  which,  if  fol- 
lowed, the  world  will  forever  applaud,  and  God  must 
forever  bless.  A.  Lincoln. 


238  abraham  lincoln's 

Letter  to  Mr.  "Wood,  December  12,  1862. 

My  Dear  Sir : — Your  letter  of  the  8th,  with  the  ac- 
companying note  of  same  date,  was  received  yester- 
day. 

The  most  important  paragraph  in  the  letter,  as  I 
consider,  is  in  these  words  :  "  On  the  26th  of  Novem- 
ber last  I  was  advised  by  an  authority  which  I 
deemed  likely  to  be  well  informed,  as  well  as  reliable 
and  truthful  that  the  Southern  states  would  send 
representatives  to  the  next  Congress,  provided  that  a 
full  and  general  amnesty  should  permit  them  to  do 
so.  No  guarantee  or  terms  were  asked  for  other 
than  the  amnesty  referred  to." 

I  strongly  suspect  your  information  will  prove  to 
be  groundless;  nevertheless,!  thank  you  for  commu- 
nicating it  to  me.  Understanding  the  phrase  in  the 
paragraph  above  quoted — "  the  Southern  states  would 
send  representatives  to  the  next  Congress  "  —  to  be 
substantially  the  same  as  that  "  the  people  of  the 
Southern  states  would  cease  resistance,  and  would  in- 
augurate, submit  to,  and  maintain  the  national  au- 
thority within  the  limits  of  such  states,  under  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,*"  I  say  that  in  such 
case  the  war  would  cease  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  and  that  if,  within  a  reasonable  time,  "  a  full 
and  general  amnesty"  were  necessary  to  such  end,  it 
would  not  be  withheld. 

I  do  not  think  it  would  be  proper  now  to  commu- 
nicate this,  formally  or  informally,  to  the  people  of 
the  Southern  states.  My  belief  is  that  they  already 
know  it,  and  when   they  choose,  if  ever,  they  can 


PEN  AND  VOICE. 


239 


communicate  with  me  unequivocally.  Nor  do  T  think 
it  proper  now  to  suspend  military  operations  to  try 
any  experiment  of  negotiation. 

I  should,  nevertheless,  receive  with  great  pleasure 
the  exact  information  you  now  have,  and  also  such 
other  as  you  may  in  any  way  obtain.  Such  informa- 
tion might  he  more  valuable  before  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary than  afterward. 

While  there  is  nothing*  in  this  letter  which  I  shall 
dread  to  see  in  history,  it  is  perhaps  better  for  the 
present  that  its  existence  should  not  become  public. 
I  therefore  have  to  request  that  you  will  regard  it  as 
confidential.  Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  Lincoln. 

Address  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  December  22, 

1862. 

I  have  just  read  your  commanding  general's  pre- 
liminary report  of  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg. 
Although  you  were  not  successful,  the  attempt  was 
not  an  error,  nor  the  failure  other  than  an  accident. 

The  courage  with  which  you,  in  an  open  field, 
maintained  the  contest  against  an  intrenched  foe,  and 
the  consummate  skill  and  success  with  which  you 
crossed  and  re-crossed  the  river  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy,  show  that  you  possess  all  the  qualities  of  a 
great  army,  which  will  yet  give  victory  to  the  cause 
of  the  country  and  of  popular  government. 

Condoling  with  the  mourners  for  the  dead,  and 
sympathizing  with  the  severely  wounded,  T  congratu- 
late you  that  the  number  of  both  is  comparatively  so 


240  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

small.     T  tender   to   you,   officers    and   soldiers,  the 
thanks  of  a  nation.  A.  Lincoln. 

Final  Emancipation  Proclamation,  January  1,  1863. 

Whereas,  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  September, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-two,  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  containing,  among 
other  things,  the  following,  to  wit : 

"  That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all 
persons  held  as  slaves  within  any  state,  or  designated 
part  of  state,  the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in 
rebellion  against  the  United  States,  shall  be  then, 
thenceforward,  and  forever  free;  and  the  Executive 
Government  of  the  United  States,  including  the  mili- 
tary and  naval  authority  thereof,  will  recognize  and 
maintain  the  freedom  of  such  persons,  and  will  do  no 
act  or  aets  to  suppress  such  persons,  or  any  of  them, 
in  any  efforts  they  may  make  for  their  actual  free- 
dom. 

"  That  the  Executive  will,  on  the  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary aforesaid,  by  proclamation,  designate  the  states, 
and  parts  of  states,  if  any,  in  which  the  people 
thereof  respectively  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against 
the  United  States  ;  and  the  fact  that  any  state  or  the 
people  thereof  shall  on  that  day  be  in  good  faith  rep- 
resented in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  bv 
members  chosen  thereto  at  election  wherein  a  major- 
ity of  the  qualified  voters  of  such  state  shall  have 
participated,  shall,  in  the  absence  of  strong  counter- 
vailing  testimony,    be    deemed    conclusive    evidence 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  241 

that  such  state,  and  the  people  thereof,  are  not  then 
in  rebellion  against  the  United  States." 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me 
vested  as  eonimander-m-chief  of  the  army  and  navy 
of  the  United  States  in  time  of  actual  armed  rebel- 
lion against  the  authority  and  government  of  the 
United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary  war  meas- 
ure for  suppressing  said  rebellion,  do,  on  the  first  day 
of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance 
with  my  purpose  so  to  do,  publicly  proclaimed  for 
the  full  period  of  one  hundred  days  from  the  day 
first  above  mentioned,  order  and  designate,  as  the 
states  and  pa  its  of  states  wherein  the  people  thereof 
respectively  are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States  the  following,  to  wit:  Arkansas, 
Texas,  Louisiana  (except  the  parishes  of  St.  Bernard, 
Plaquemine,  Jefferson,  St.  John,  St.  Charles,  St. 
James,  Ascension,  Assumption,  Terre  Bonne,  La- 
fourche, St.  Marie,  St.  Martin,  and  Orleans,  including 
the  city  of  New  Orleans),  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Flor- 
ida, Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Vir- 
ginia (except  the  forty-eight  counties  designated  as 
West  Virginia,  and  also  the  counties  of  Berkely,  Ac- 
comac,  Northampton,  Elizabeth  City,  York,  Princess 
Anne,  and  Norfolk,  including  the  cities  of  Norfolk  and 
Portsmouth),  and  which  excepted  parts  are  for  the 
present  left  precisely  as  if  this  proclamation  were  not 
issued.  And,  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  pur- 
pose aforesaid,  I  do  order  and  declare  that  all  persons 
21 


242  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

* 

held  as  slaves  within  said  designated  states  and  parts 
of  states,  are,  and  henceforward  shall  be  free  ;  and  that 
the  executive  government  of  the  United  States,  in- 
cluding the  military  and  naval  authorities  thereof, 
will  recognize  and  maintain  the  freedom  of  said  per- 
sons. And  I  hereby  enjoin  upon  the  people  so  de- 
clared to  be  free,  to  abstain  from  all  violence,  unless 
in  necessary  self-defense ;  and  I  recommend  to  them, 
that  in  all  cases,  when  allowed,  they  labor  faithfully  for 
reasonable  wages.  And  I  further  declare  and  make 
known  that  such  persons  of  suitable  condition  will 
be  received  into  the  armed  service  of  the  United 
States,  to  garrison  forts,  positions,  stations,  and  other 
places,  and  to  man  vessels  of  all  sorts  in  said  service. 
And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of 
justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  upon  military 
necessity,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  man- 
kind and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God. 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
name,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  first  day  of 
January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Major-General  Curtis,  January  2,  1863. 

My  Dear  Sir: — l^ours  of  December  29th,  by  the 
hand  of  Mr.  Strong,  is  just  received.  The  day  I  tele- 
graphed you  suspending  the  order  in  relation  to  Dr. 
McPheeters,  he,  with  Mr.  Bates,  the  attorney-general, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  243 

appeared  before  me  and  left  with  me  a  copy  of  the 
order  mentioned.  The  doctor  also  showed  me  the 
copy  of  an  oath  which  he  said  he  had  taken,  which 
is  indeed  very  strong  and  specific.  He  also  verbally 
assured  me  that  lie  had  constantly  prayed  in  church 
for  the  president  and  government,  as  he  had  always 
done  before  the  present  war.  In  looking  over  the 
recitals  in  your  order,  I  do  not  see  that  this  matter 
of  the  prayer,  as  he  states  it,  is  negatived;  nor  that 
any  violation  of  his  oath  is  charged,  nor  in  fact 
that  any  tiling  specific  is  alleged  against  him.  The 
charges  are  all  general,  that  lie  has  a  rebel  wife,  and 
rebel  relations;  that  he  sympathises  with  rebels,  and 
that  he  exercises  rebel  influence.  Now  after  talking 
with  him,  I  tell  you  frankly,  I  believe  he  does  sym- 
pathize with  the  rebels;  but  the  question  remains 
whether  such  a  man  of  unquestioned  good  moral 
character,  who  has  taken  such  an  oath  as  he  has,  and 
can  not  even  be  charged  of  violating  it,  and  who  can 
be  charged  with  no  other  specific  act  or  omission, 
can,  with  safety  to  this  government,  be  exiled  upon 
the  suspicion  of  his  secret  sympathies.  But  I  agree 
that  this  must  be  left  to  you  who  are  on  the 
spot;  and  if,  after  all,  you  think  the  public  good  re- 
quires his  removal,  my  suspension  of  the  order  is 
withdrawn,  only  with  this  qualification,  that  the  time 
during  the  suspension  is  not  to  be  counted  against 
him.     T  have  promised  him  this. 

But  I  must  add  that  the  United  States  Government 
must  not,  as  by  this  order,  undertake  to  run  the 
churches.  When  an  individual  in  a  church,  or  out 
of  it,  becomes  dangerous  to  the  public   interest,  he 


244  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

must  be  checked ;  but  let  the  churches,  as  such,  take 

care  of  themselves. 

It   will   not   do  for  the  United   States   to   appoint 
trustees,  supervisors,  or  other  agents  for  the  churches. 
Yours  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Burnside. 

January  8,  1863. 
I  understand  General  Halleck  has  sent  you  a  letter 
of  which  this  is  a  copy.  I  deplore  the  want  of  con- 
currence with  you  in  opinion  by  your  general  officers, 
but  I  do  not  see  the  remedy.  Be  cautious,  and  do 
not  understand  that  the  government  or  country  is 
driving  you.  I  do  not  yet  see  how  1  could  profit  by 
changing  the  command  of  the  Array  of  the  Potomac, 
and  if  I  did,  I  should  not  wish  to  do  it  by  accepting 
the  resignation  of  your  commission.       A.  Lincoln. 

Message  to  Congress,  January  19,  1863. 

I  have  signed  the  joint  resolution  to  provide  for 
the  immediate  payment  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  States,  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
on  the  14th,  and  by  the  Senate  on  the  15th  inst.  The 
joint  resolution  is  a  simple  authority  amounting,  how- 
ever, under  the  existing  circumstances,  to  a  direction 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  make  an  additional 
issue  of  $100,000,000  United  States  notes,  if  so  much 
money  is  needed  for  the  payment  of  the  army  and 
navy.  My  approval  is  given  in  order  that  every  pos- 
sible facility  may  he  afforded  for  the  prompt  discharge 
of  all  arrears  in  pay  due  to  our  soldiers  and  our  sailors. 

While  giving  this  approval,  however,  I  think  it  my 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  245 

duty  to  express  my  sincere  regret  that  it  has  been 
found  necessary  to  authorize  so  large  an  additional 
issue  of  United  States  notes,  when  this  circulation  and 
that  of  the  suspended  banks  together  have  become 
already  so  redundant  as  to  increase  prices  beyond  real 
values,  thereby  augmenting  the  cost  of  living,  to  the 
injury  of  labor,  and  the  eost  of  supplying  to  the  injury 
of  the  whole  country. 

It  seems  very  plain  that  continued  issues  of  United 
States  notes  without  any  check  to  the  issues  of  sus- 
pended banks,  and  without  adequate  provision  for  the 
raising  of  money  by  loans,  and  for  funding  the  issues 
so  as  to  keep  them  within  due  limits,  might  soon  pro- 
duce disastrous  consequences,  and  this  matter  appears 
to  me  so  important  that  I  feel  bound  to  avail  myself 
of  this  occasion  to  ask  the  special  attention  of  Con- 
gress to  it.  That  Congress  has  power  to  regulate  the 
currency  of  the  country  can  hardly  admit  of  doubt, 
and  that  a  judicious  measure  to  prevent  the  deterio- 
ration of  this  currency  by  a  reasonable  taxation  of 
bank  circulation  or  otherwise  is  needed,  seems  equally 
clear.  Independent  of  this  general  consideration,  it 
would  be  unjust  to  the  people  at  large  to  exempt 
banks  enjoying  the  special  privilege  of  circulation, 
from  their  just  proportion  of  the  public  burdens.  In 
order  to  raise  money  by  way  of  loans  most  easily,  and 
cheaply,  it  is  clearly  necessary  to  give  every  possible 
support  to  the  public  credit.  To  that  end  a  uniform 
currency,  in  which  taxes,  subscriptions,  loans,  and  all 
other  ordinary  public  dues  may  be  paid,  is  almost,  if 
not  quite  indispensable. 

Such  a  currency   can   be    furnished  by  banks  and 


24<)  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

associations  authorized  under  a  general  act  of  Con- 
gress, as  suggested  in  my  message  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  session.  The  securing  of  this  circulation 
by  the  pledge  of  the  United  States  bonds,  as  herein 
suggested,  would  still  further  facilitate  loans  by  in- 
creasing the  present,  and  causing  a  future  demand  for 
such  bonds.  In  view  of  the  actual  financial  embarrass- 
ments of  the  government,  and  of  the  greater  embar- 
rassments sure  to  come,  if  the  necessary  means  of  re- 
lief be  not  afforded,  I  feel  that  I  should  not  perform 
my  duty  by  a  simple  announcement  of  my  approval 
of  the  joint  resolution,  which  proposes  relief  only  by 
increasing^  the  circulation,  without  expressing  my 
earnest  desire  that  measures,  such  in  substance  as 
those  I  have  just  referred  to,  may  receive  the  early 
sanction  of  Congress.  By  such  measures,  in  my 
opinion,  will  payment  be  most  certainly  secured,  not 
only  to  the  army  and  navy,  but  to  honest  creditors  of 
the  government,  and  satisfactory  provisions  made  for 
future  demands  on  the  treasury.  A.  Lincoln. 

Approval  of  Court  Martial  Proceedings. 

January  21,  1863. 
The  foregoing  proceedings,  findings,  and  sentence  in  the 
foregoing  case  of  Major- General  Fitz  John  Porter  arc 
approved  and  confirmed,  and  it  is  ordered  that  the  said 
Fitz  John  Porter  be,  and  lie  hereby  is,  cashiered  and 
dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  United  States  as  a 
Major-General  of  volunteers,  and  as  Colonel  and 
Brevet  Brigadier-General  in  the  regular  service  of  the 
United  States,  and  forever  disqualified  from  holding 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  247 

any  office  oftrusl  or  profit  under  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Hooker. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  26,  1863. 
General:— I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Of  course  I  have  done 
this  upon  what  appears  to  me  to  be  sufficient 
reasons;  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for  you  to  know 
that  there  arc  some  things  in  regard  to  which 
I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  you.  I  believe  you  to 
be  a  brave  and  skillful  soldier — which,  of  course,  I 
like.  I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with  your 
profession — in  which  you  are  riffht.  You  have  con- 
fidence  in  yourself — which  is  a  valuable,  if  not  an  in- 
dispensable quality.  You  are  ambitious — which, 
within  reasonable  bounds,  does  good  rather  than 
harm;  but  I  think  that,  during  General  Burnside's 
command  of  the  army,  you  have  taken  counsel  of 
your  ambition  and  thwarted  him  as  much  as  you 
could,  in  which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the  country, 
and  to  a  most  meritorious  and  honorable  brother 
officer.  I  have  heard,  in  such  way  as  to  believe  it,  of 
your  recently  saying  that  both  the  army  and  the  gov- 
ernment needed  a  dictator.  Of  course,  it  was  not  for 
this,  but  in  spite  of  it, that  T  have  given  you  the  com- 
mand. Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can 
set  up  dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is* military 
success,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  govern- 
ment will  support  you  to  the  utmost  of  its  ability — 
which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done  and 
will  do  for  all  commanders.     I  much  fear  that  the 


248  Abraham  Lincoln's 

spirit  which  you  have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army, 
of  criticising  their  commander  and  withholding  con- 
fidence from  Him,  will  now  turn  upon  you. 

I  shall  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down. 
Neither  you  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again, 
could  get  any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a  spirit 
prevails  in  it.  And  now,  beware  of  rashness.  Beware 
of  rashness,  but,  with  energy  and  sleepless  viligance, 
go  forward  and  give  us  victories.     Yours,  very  truly. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to   the  AYorkingmen   of   Manchester,  Eng., 

Feb.  9,  1863. 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of 
the  address  and  resolutions  which  you  sent  me  on 
the  eve  of  the  Xew  Year.  When  I  came,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1861,  through  a  free  and  constitutional  election, 
to  preside  in  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
the  country  was  found  at  the  verge  of  civil  war. 
Whatever  might  have  been  the  cause,  or  whosoever 
at  fault,  one  duty,  paramount  to  all  others,  was  be- 
fore me,  namely,  to  maintain  and  preserve  at  once 
the  Constitution  and  the  integrity  of  the  Federal 
Republic.  A  conscientious  purpose  to  perform  this 
duty  is  the  key  to  all  the  measures  of  administration 
which  have  been  and  to  all  which  will  hereafter  be 
pursued.  Under  our  form  of  government,  and  my 
official  oath,  I  could  not  depart  from  the  purpose  if 
I  would.  It  is  not  always  in  the  power  of  govern- 
ments to  enlarge  or  restrict  the  scope  of  moral  re- 
sults which  follow  the  politics  that  they  may  deem  it 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  249 

necessary  for  the  public  safety  from  time  to  time  to 
adopt. 

I  have  understood  well  that  the  duty  of  self- 
preservation  rests  solely  with  the  American  people. 
But  I  have  at  the  same  time  been  aware  that  favor 
or  disfavor  of  foreign  nations  might  have  a  material 
influence  in  enlarging  and  prolonging  the  struggle 
with  disloyal  men  in  which  the  country  is  engaged. 
A  fair  examination  of  history  has  seemed  to  authorize 
a  belief  that  the  past  action  and  influence  of  the 
United  States  were  generally  regarded  as  having 
been  beneficial  toward  mankind.  I  have  therefore 
reckoned  upon  the  forbearance  of  nations. 

Circumstances — to  some  of  which  you  kindly  al- 
lude— induced  me  especially  to  expect  that,  if  justice 
and  good  faith  should  be  practiced  by  the  United 
States,  they  would  encounter  no  hostile  influences  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  now  a  pleasant  duty 
to  acknowledge  the  demonstration  you  have  given  to 
your  desire  that  a  spirit  of  peace  and  amity  toward 
this  country  may  prevail  in  the  councils  of  your 
queen,  who  is  respected  and  esteemed  in  your  own 
country  no  more  than  she  is  by  the  kindred  nation 
which  has  its  home  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  I 
know  and  deeply  deplore  the  sufferings  which  the 
workmen  at  Manchester  and  in  all  Europe  arc  called 
to  endure  in  this  crisis.  It  has  been  often  and  stu- 
diously represented  that  the  attempt  to  overthrow 
this  government,  which  was  built  upon  the  founda- 
tion of  human  rights,  and  to  substitute  for  it  one 
which  should  rest  exclusively  on  the  basis  of  human 
slavery,  was    likely  to   obtain    the   favor  of  Europe. 


250  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Through  the  action  of  our  disloyal  citizens,  the 
workingmen  of  Europe  have  been  subjected  to  se- 
vere trial,  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  their  sanction 
to  that  attempt.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  can 
not  but  regard  your  decisive  utterances  upon  the 
question  as  an  instance  of  sublime  Christian  heroism, 
which  has  not  been  surpassed  in  any  age  or  in  any 
country.  It  is  indeed  an  energetic  and  re-inspiring 
assurance  of  the  inherent  power  of  truth,  and  of  the 
ultimate  and  universal  triumph  of  justice,  humanity, 
and  freedom.  And  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  senti- 
ments you  have  expressed  will  be  sustained  by  your 
great  nation.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  assuring  you  that  they  will  incite  ad- 
miration, esteem,  and  the  other  reciprocal  feelings  of 
friendship  among  the  American  people.  I  hail  this 
interchange  of  sentiment,  therefore,  as  an  augury 
that  whatever  else  may  happen,  whatever  misfortune 
may  befall  your  country  or  my  own,  the  peace  and 
friendship  which  now  exist  between  the  two  nations 
will  be,  as  it  shall  be  my  desire  to  make  them,  per- 
petual. Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  Rev.  Alexander  Reed. 

Executive  Mansion,  February  22,  1863. 

My  Dear  Sir: — Your  note,  by  which  you,  as  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  U.  S.  Christian  Commis- 
sion, invite  me  to  preside  at  a  meeting  to  be  held  this 
day,  at  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in 
the  city,  is  received. 

While,  for  reasons  which  I  deem  sufficient,  I  must 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  251 

decline  to  preside,  I  can   not  withhold  my  approval 
of  the  meeting  and  its  worthy  objects. 

Whatever  shall  be,  sincerely  and  in  God's  name, 
devised  for  the  good  of  the  soldiers  and  seamen  in 
their  hard  spheres  of  duty,  can  scarcely  fail  to  he 
blessed  ;  and  whatever  shall  tend  to  turn  our  thoughts 
from  the  unreasoning  and  uncharitable  passions, 
prejudices,  and  jealousies  incident  to  a  great  national 
trouble  such  as  ours,  and  to  fix  them  on  the  vast  and 
long  enduring  consequences,  lor  weal  or  for  woe, 
which  are  to  result  from  the  struggle,  and  especially 
to  strengthen  our  reliance  on  the  Supreme  Being  for 
the  final  triumph  of  the  right,  can  not  but  be  well 
for  us  all. 

The  birthday  of  Washington  ami  the  Christian 
Sabbath  coinciding  this  year,  and  suggesting  together 
the  highest  interests  of  this  life  and  of  that  to  come, 
is  most  propitious  for  the  meeting  proposed. 

Yours  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

Reply  Regarding  Thomas  W.  Knox,  Correspondent 

1ST.  Y.  Herald. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  May  20,  1863. 
To  whom  it  may  concern: — Whereas,  it  appears  to 
my  satisfaction  that  Thomas  W.  Knox,  a  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  York  Herald,  has  been,  by  the  sen- 
tence of  a  court-martial,  excluded  from  the  military 
department  under  command  of  Major-General  Grant, 
and  also  that  General  Thayer,  president  of  the  court- 
martial  which  rendered  the  sentence,  and  Major- 
General  McClernand,  in  command  of  a  corps  of  that 
department,  and  many  other  respectable  persons,  are 


252  Abraham  Lincoln's 

of  opinion  that  Mr.  Knox's  offense  was  technical 
rather  than  willfully  wrong,  and  that  the  sentence 
should  he  revoked;  now  therefore  said  sentence  is 
hereby  so  far  revoked  as  to  allow  Mr.  Knox  to  return 
to  General  Grant's  head-quarters,  and  to  remain  if 
General  Grant  shall  not  refuse  such  assent. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Internal  and  Coastwise  Intercourse,  by  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Proclamation,  March  31,  1863. 
Whereas,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  Congress,  ap- 
proved July  13,  1861,  I  did  by  proclamation,  dated 
August  16,  1861,  declare  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
States  of  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Virginia,  North 
Carolina,  Tennessee,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Texas, 
Arkansas,  Mississippi,  and  Florida  (except  the  inhab- 
itants of  that  part  of  Virginia  lying  west  of  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  and  of  such  other  parts  of 
that  state,  and  the  other  states  hereinbefore  named, 
as  might  maintain  a  loyal  adhesion  to  the  Union  and 
the  constitution,  or  might  be  from  time  to  time 
occupied  and  controlled  by  forces  of  the  United 
States  engaged  in  the  dispersion  of  said  insurgents) 
were  in  a  state  of  insurrection  against  the  United 
States,  and  that  all  commercial  intercourse  between 
the  same  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  with  the  excep- 
tions aforesaid,  and  the  citizens  of  other  states  and 
other  parts  of  the  United  States  wTas  unlawful,  and 
wTould  remain  unlawful  until  such  insurrection  should 
cease  or  be  suppressed,  and  that  all  goods  and  chat- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  253 

tels,  wares  and  merchandise,  coming  from  any  of 
said  states,  with  the  exceptions  aforesaid,  into  other 
parts  of  the  United  States,  without  the  license  and 
permission  of  the  President,  through  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  or  proceeding  to  any  of  said  states, 
with  the  exceptions  aforesaid,  hy  land  or  water,  to- 
gether with  the  vessel  or  vehicle  conveying  the  same 
to  or  from  said  states,  with  the  exceptions  aforesaid, 
would  be  forfeited  to  the  United  States. 

And,  whereas,  experience  has  shown  that  the  ex- 
ceptions made  in  and  by  said  proclamation  embarrass 
the  due  enforcement  of  said  act  of  July  13,  1861,  and 
the  proper  regulation  of  the  commercial  intercourse 
authorized  by  said  act  with  the  loyal  citizens  of  said 
states — 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  do  hereby  revoke  the  said  excep- 
tions, and  declare  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  States  of 
Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
Alabama,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Mississippi, 
Florida,  and  Virginia  (except  the  forty-eight  coun- 
ties of  Virginia  designated  as  West  Virginia,  and 
except  also  the  ports  of  New  Orleans,  Key  West, 
Port  Royal,  and  Beaufort  in  North  Carolina)  are  in 
a  state  of  insurrection  against  the  United  States, 
and  that  all  commercial  intercourse,  not  licensed  and 
conducted  as  provided  in  said  act,  between  the  said 
states  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  with  the  exceptions 
aforesaid,  and  the  citizens  of  other  states  and  other 
parts  of  the  United  States,  is  unlawful,  and  will  re- 
main unlawful  until  such  insurrection  shall  cease  or 
has  been  suppressed,    and  notice    thereof    has    been 


254  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

duly  given  by  proclamation  ;  and  all  cotton,  tobacco, 
and  other  products,  and  all  other  goods  and  chattels, 
wares,  and  merchandise  coming  from  said  states, 
with  the  exceptions  aforesaid,  into  other  parts  of 
the  United  States,  or  proceeding  to  any  of  said  states, 
with  the  exceptions  aforesaid,  without  the  license  or 
permission  of  the  President,  through  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  will,  together  with  the  vessel  or  vehicle 
conveying  the  same,  be  forfeited  to  the  United  States. 
In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
affixed.  Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  81st 
day  of  March,  a.  d.  1863,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty-seventh. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Hunter  and  Admiral  Dupont. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  14, 1863. 

This  is  intended  to  clear  up  an  apparent  inconsist- 
ency between  the  recent  order  to  continue  operations 
before  Charleston  and  the  former  one  to  remove  to 
another  point  in  a  certain  emergency.  Xo  censure 
upon  you  or  either  of  you  is  intended. 

We  still  hope  that  by  cordial  and  judicious  co- 
operation you  can  take  the  batteries  on  Morris  Island 
and  Sullivan's  Island  and  Fort  Sumter.  But  whether 
you  can  or  not,  we  wish  the  demonstration  kept  up 
for  a  time  for  a  collateral  and  very  important  object. 
We  wish  the  attempt  to  be  a  real  one  (though  not  a 
desperate  one),  if  it  affords,  any  considerable  chance 
of  success.  But  if  prosecuted  as  a  demonstration 
only  this  must  not  become  public,  or  the  whole  effect 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  255 

will  be  lost.     Once  again  before  Charleston   do  not 

leave  till  farther  orders  from  here.  Of  course  this 
is  not  intended  to  force  you  to  leave  unduly  ex- 
posed Hilton's  Head  or  other  near  points  in  your 
charge.         Yours,  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Hooker. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  April  15,  1863. 
It  is  now  10:15  r.  M.  An  hour  ago  I  received  your 
letter  of  this  morning,  and  a  few  minutes  later  your 
dispatch  of  this  evening.  The  later  gives  me  con- 
siderable uneasiness.  The  rain  and  mud,  of  course, 
were  to  be  calculated  upon.  General  S.  is  not  mov- 
ing rapidly  enough  to  make  the  expedition  come  to 
any  thing.  He  has  now  been  out  three  days,  two  of 
which  were  unusually  fair  weather,  and  all  three 
without  hindrance  from  the  enemy,  and  yet  he  is 
not  twenty-five  miles  from  where  he  started.  To 
reach  his  point  he  has  still  sixty  to  go,  another  river 
(the  Rapidan)  to  cross,  and  will  be  hindered  by  the 
enemy.  By  arithmetic,  how  many  days  will  it  take 
him  to  do  it?  I  do  not  know  that  any  better  can  be 
done,  but  I  greatly  fear  it  is  another  failure  already. 
"Write  me  often.     I  am  very  anxious. 

Yours,  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Governor  Curtin,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

Executive  Mansion,  May  1,  1803. 
The  whole  disposable  force  at  Baltimore  and  else- 
where in  reach  have  already  been    sent  after  the  en- 
emy which  alarms  you.     The  worst  thing  the  enemy 
could  do  for  himself  would  be  to  weaken  himself  be- 


256  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

fore  Hooker,  and  therefore  it  is  safe  to  believe  he  is 
not  doing  it,  and  the  best  thing  he  could  do  for  him- 
self would  be  to  get  us  so  scared  as  to  bring  part  of 
Hooker's  force  away,  and  that  is  just  what  he  is  try- 
ing to  do. 

I  will  telegraph  you  in  the  morning  about  calling 
out  the  militia.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Governor  Cirttn,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

Executive  Mansion,  May  2,1863. 

General  Halleek  tells  me  that  lie  has  a  dispatch 
from  General  Schenck  this  morning  informing  him 
that  our  forces  have  joined,  and  that  the  enemy 
menacing  Pennsylvania  will  have  to  fight  or  run  to- 
day. I  hope  I  am  not  less  anxious  to  do  my  duty  to 
Pennsylvania  than  yourself,  but  I  really  do  not  yet 
see  the  justification  for  incurring  the  trouble  and  ex- 
pense of  calling  out  the  militia.  1  shall  keep  watch 
and  try  to  do  my  duty.  A.  Lincoln. 

P.  S. — Our  forces  are  exactly  between  the  enemy 
and  Pennsylvania. 

To  General  Hooker. 
Washington,  D.  C.,.May  6,  1863, 12:30  P.  31. 
Just  as  I  had  telegraphed  you  contents  of  Rich- 
mond papers,  showing  that  our  cavalry  has  not  failed, 
I  received  General  Butterfield's  of  11  a.  m.  yesterday. 
This,  with  the  great  rain  of  yesterday  and  last  night, 
securing  your  right  flank,  I  think,  puts  a  new  phase 
upon  your  case,  but  you  must  be  the  judge. 

A.  Lincoln. 


PEN  AND  VOICE,  257 

To  Major-General  Hooker. 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  6, 1863, 12:25  P.  31. 
We  have,  through  General  Dix,  the  contents  of 
Richmond  paper  of  the  5th.  General  Dix's  dispatch 
in  full  is  going  to  you,  by  Captain  Fox,  of  the  navy. 
The  substance  is  General  Lee's  dispatch  of  the  3d 
(Sunday),  claiming  that  he  had  beaten  you,  and  that 
you  were  then  retreating  across  the  Rappahannock, 
distinctly  stating  that  two  of  Longstreet's  divisions 
fought  you  on  Saturday,  and  that  General  (E.  F.) 
Paxton  was  killed,  Stonewall  Jackson  severely 
wounded,  and  Generals  Heth  and  A.  P.  Hill  slightly 
wounded.  The  Richmond  papers  also  stated,  upon 
what  authority  not  mentioned,  that  our  cavalry  have 
been  at  Ashland,  Hanover  Court-House,  and  other 
points,  destroying  several  locomotives  and  a  good 
deal  of  other  property,  and  all  the  railroad  bridges 
to  within  rive  miles  of  Richmond.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Hooker. 

Head-quarters  Army  of  the  Potomac,  May  7,  1863. 

My  Dear  Sir: — The  recent  movement  of  your  army 
is  ended  without  effecting  its  object,  except,  perhaps, 
some  important  breakings  of  the  enemy's  communi- 
cations. What  next?  If  possible,  I  would  be  very 
glad  of  another  movement  early  enough  to  give  us 
some  benefit  from  the  fact  of  the  enemy's  communi- 
cation being  broken;  but  neither  for  this  reason  nor 
any  other  do  I  wish  any  thing  done  in  desperation  or 
rashness.     An   early   movement   would  also   help  to 


258  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

supersede  the  bad  moral  effect  of  the  recent   one, 
which  is  said  to  be  considerably  injurious. 

Have  you  already  in  your  mind  a  plan  wholly  or 
partially  formed?  If  you  have,  prosecute  it  without 
interference  from  me.  If  you  have  not,  please  inform 
me,  so  that  I,  incompetent  as  I  may  be,  can  try  and 
assist  in  the  formation  of  some  plan  for  the  army. 

Yours,  as  ever,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Hooker. 
Washington,  2  P.  31.,  May  8,  1863. 
The  news  is  here  of  the  capture  by  our  forces  of 
Grand  Gulf,  a  large  and  very  important  thing.  General 
Willich,  an  exchanged  prisoner  just  from  Richmond, 
has  talked  with  me  this  morning.  He  was  there 
when  our  cavalry  cut  the  roads  in  that  vicinity.  He 
says  there  was  not  a  sound  pair  of  legs  in  Richmond, 
and  that  our  men,  had  they  known  it,  could  have 
safely  gone  in  and  burnt  every  thing  and  brought 
Jeff.  Davis,  captured  and  paroled  three  or  four  hun- 
dred men.  He  says  as  he  came  to  City  Point  there 
was  an  army  three  miles  long  —  Longstreet,  he 
thought,  moving  toward  Richmond.  Milroy  has 
captured  a  dispatch  of  General  Lee,  in  which  he 
says  his  loss  was  fearful  in  his  late  battle  with  you. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Dix. 

War  Department,  May  9,  1863. 
It.  is  very  important  for  Hooker  to  know  exactly 
what  damage  is  done  to  the  railroads  at  all  points  be- 
tween Fredericksburg  and  Richmond.   As  yet  we  have 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  259 

no  word  as  to  whether  the  crossings  of  the  North  and 
South  Anna,  or  any  of  them,  have  been  touched. 
There  are  four  of  these  crossings;  that  is,  one  on 
each  road  or  each  stream.  You  readily  perceive  why 
this  information  is  desired.  I  suppose  Kilpatrick  or 
Davis  can  tell.  Please  ascertain  fully  what  was  done, 
and  what  is  the  present  condition,  as  near  as  you  can, 
and  advise  me  at  once.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Hooker. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  May  14,  1863. 
My  Dear  Sir: — When  I  wrote  on  the  7th,  I  had 
an  impression  that  possibly,  by  an  early  move- 
ment, you  could  get  some  advantage,  from  the  sup- 
posed facts  that  the  enemy's  communications  were 
disturbed,  and  that  he  was  somewhat  deranged  in 
position.  The  idea  has  now  passed  away,  the  enemy 
having  re-established  his  communications,  regained 
his  positions,  and  actually  received  reinforcements. 
It  does  not  now  appear  to  me  probable  that  you  can 
gain  any  thing  by  an  early  renewal  of  the  attempt  to 
cross  the  Rappahannock.  I  therefore  shall  not  com- 
plain if  you  do  no  more  for  a  time  than  to  keep  the 
enemy  at  bay,  and  out  of  other  mischief,  by  menaces 
and  occasional  cavalry  raids,  if  practicable,  and  to  put 
your  own  army  in  good  condition  again.  Still,  if,  in 
your  own  clear  judgment,  you  can  renew  the  attack 
successfully,  I  do  not  mean  to  restrain  }tou.  Bearing 
upon  this  last  point  I  must  tell  you  I  have  some  pain- 
ful intimations  that  some  of  your  corps  and  division 
commanders  are  not  giving  you  their  entire  confi- 
dence.   This  would  be  ruinous  if  true,  and  you  should, 


260  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

therefore,  first  of  all,  ascertain  the  real  facts  beyond 
all  possibility  of  doubt.         Yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Hurlbert,  Memphis,  Tenn. 

Washington,  May  22,  1863. 

We  have  news  here  in  the  Richmond  newspapers 
of  the  20th  and  21st,  including  a  dispatch  from  Gen- 
eral Joe  Johnston  himself,  that  on  the  15th  or  16th — a 
little  confusion  as  to  the  day — Grant  beat  Pemberton 
and  (W.  W.)  Loring  near  Edwards  Station,  at  the 
end  of  a  nine  hours  fight,  driving  Pemberton  over  the 
Big  Black,  and  cutting  Loring  oft'  and  driving  him 
south  to  Crystal  Springs,  twenty-five  miles  below 
Jackson. 

Joe  Johnston  telegraphed  all  this,  except  about 
Loring,  from  his  camp  between  Brownsville  and  Lex- 
ington, on  the  18th.  Another  dispatch  indicates  that 
Grant  was  moving  against  Johnston  on  the  18th. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  J.  M.  Schofield. 

Executive  3Iansion,  Washington,  Mag  27,  1863. 

Dear  Sir: — Having  removed  General  Curtis  and 
assigned  you  to  the  command  of  the  Department  of 
the  Missouri,  I  think  it  may  be  of  some  advantage  to 
me  to  state  to  you  why  I  did  it. 

I  did  not  remove  General  Curtis  because  of  my  full 
conviction  that  he  had  done  wrong  by  commission  or 
omission.  I  did  it  because  of  a  conviction  in  my  mind 
that  the  Union  men  of  Missouri,  constituting,  when 
uniting,  a  vast  majority  of  the  people,  have  entered 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  261 

into  a  pestilent,  factious  quarrel,  among  themselves, 
General  Curtis,  perhaps  not  of  choice,  being  the 
head  of  one  faction,  and  Governor  Gamble  that  of  the 
other. 

After  months  of  labor  to  reconcile  the  difficulty,  it 
seemed  to  grow  worse  and  worse,  until  I  felt  it  my 
duty  to  break  it  up  some  how,  and  as  I  could  not  re- 
move Governor  Gamble,  I  had  to  remove  General 
Curtis.  Now  that  you  are  in  the  position,  I  wish  you 
to  undo  nothing-  nierelv  because  General  Curtis  or 
Governor  Gamble  did  it,  but  to  exercise  your  judg- 
ment and  do  right  for  the  public  interest.  Let  your 
military  measures  be  strong  enough  to  repel  the  in- 
vaders and  keep  the  peace,  and  not  so  strong  as  to 
unnecessarily  harass  and  persecute  the  people.  It  is 
a  difficult  role,  and  so  much  greater  will  be  the  honor 
if  you  perform  it  well. 

If  both  factions,  or  neither,  shall  abuse  you,  you  will 
probably  be  about  right.  Beware  of  being  assailed  by 
one  and  praised  by  the  other. 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  Hooker,  June  5,  1863. 

Yours  of  to-day  was  received  an  hour  ago.  So 
much  of  professional  military  skill  is  requisite  to  an- 
swer it  that  I  turned  the  task  over  to. General  Ilal- 
leck.  He  promises  to  perform  it  with  his  utmost 
care.  I  have  but  one  idea  which  I  think  worth  sug- 
gesting to  you,  and  that  is  in  case  you  rind  Lee  com- 
ing to  the  north  of  the  Rappahannock,  I  would  by  no 
means  cross  to  the  south  of  it.  If  he  should  leave  a 
rear  force  at  Fredricksburg,  tempting  you  to  fall  upon 


262  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

it,  would  fig-lit  iii  intrenchments  and  have  you  at  disad- 
vantage, and  so  man  for  man  worst  you  at  that  point, 
while  his  main  force  would  in  some  way  he  getting 
the  advantage  of  you  northward.  In  one  word,  I 
would  not  take  any  risk  of  being  entangled  upon  the 
river  like*  an  ox  jumped  half  over  a  fence  and  liable 
to  be  torn  by  dogs  front  and  rear  without  a  fair 
chance  to  gore  one  way  or  kick  the  other. 

If  Lee  would  come  to  my  side  of  the  river,  I  would 
keep  on  the  same  side  and  fight  him,  or  act  on  the 
defensive,  according  as  might  be  my  estimate  of  his 
strength  relatively  to  my  own.  But  these  are  mere 
suggestions  which  I  desire  to  be  controlled  by  the 
judgment  of  yourself  and  General  Halleck. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Hooker. 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  10,  1803. 
Your  long  dispatch  of  to-day  is  just  received.  If 
left  to  me,  I  would  not  go  south  of  the  Rappahannock 
upon  Lee's  moving  north  of  it.  If  you  had  Rich- 
mond invested  to-day  you  would  not  be  able  to  take 
it  in  twenty  days;  meanwhile  your  communications, 
and  with  them  your  army,  would  be  ruined.  I  think 
Lee's  army,  and  not  Richmond,  is  your  objective 
point.  If  he  conies  toward  the  Upper  Potomac,  fol- 
low on  his  flank,  and  on  the  inside  track,  shortening 
your  lines,  while  he  lengthens  his.  Fight  him,  too, 
when  opportunity  offers.  If  he  stay  where  he  is, 
fret  him  and  fret  him.  A.  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  263 

Reply  to  New  York  Democrats,  June  12,  1863. 

Hon.  Erastus  Corning  and  others:  Gentlemen — Your 
letter  of  May  19th,  inclosing  the  resolutions  of  a  pub- 
lic meeting*  held  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  on  the  16th  of  the 
same  month,  was  received  several  days  ago. 

The  resolutions,  as  I  understand  them,  are  resolv- 
able into  two  propositions — first,  the  expression  of  a 
purpose  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  Union,  to  secure 
peace  through  victory,  and  to  support  the  administra- 
tion in  every  constitutional  and  lawful  measure  to 
suppress  the  rebellion ;  and,  secondly,  a  declaration 
of  censure  upon  the  administration  for  supposed  un- 
constitutional action,  such  as  the  making  of  military 
arrests.  And,  from  the  two  propositions,  a  third  is 
deduced,  which  is,  that  the  gentlemen  composing  the 
meeting  are  resolved  on  doing  their  part  to  maintain 
our  common  government  and  country,  despite  the 
folly  or  wickedness,  as  they  may  conceive,  of  any  ad- 
ministration. This  position  is  eminently  patriotic, 
and,  as  such,  I  thank  the  meeting,  and  congratulate 
the  nation  for  it.  My  own  purpose  is  the  same,  so 
that  the  meeting  and  myself  have  a  common  object, 
and  can  have  no  difference,  except  in  the  choice  of 
means  or  measures  for  effecting  that  object. 

And  here  I  ought  to  close  this  paper,  and  would 
close  it,  if  there  were  no  apprehension  that  more  in- 
jurious consequences  than  any  merely  personal  to 
myself  might  follow  the  censures  systematically  cast 
upon  me  for  doing  what,  in  my  view  of  duty,  I  could 
not  forbear.  The  resolutions  promise  to  support  me 
in  every  constitutional  and  lawful  measure  to  sup- 


264  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

press  the  rebellion,  and  I  have  not  knowingly  em- 
ployed, nor  shall  knowingly  employ,  any  other.     But 
the  meeting,  by  their  resolutions,  assert   and  argue 
that  certain  military  arrests,  and  proceedings  follow- 
ing them,  for  which  I  am  ultimately  responsible,  are 
unconstitutional.     I  think  they  are  not.     The  resolu- 
tions quote  from  the  Constitution  the  definition  of 
treason,  and  also  the  limiting  safeguards  and  guaran- 
tees therein  provided  for  the  citizen  on  trials  of  trea- 
son ;  and  on  his  being  held  to  answer  for  capital  or 
otherwise  infamous  crimes;  and,  in  criminal  prosecu- 
tions, his  right  to  a  speedy  and   public  trial   by  an 
impartial  jury.     They  proceed  to  resolve  that  these 
safeguards  of  the  rights  of  the   citizen    against  the 
pretensions  of  arbitrary  power  were  intended  more 
especially  for  his  protection  in  times  of  civil  commo- 
tion.    And,  apparently  to  demonstrate  the   proposi- 
tion, the  resolutions  proceed:    "They  were  secured 
substantially  to  the  English  people  after  years  of  pro- 
tracted civil  war,  and  were  adopted  into  our  Consti- 
tution at  the  close  of  the  revolution."    Would  not  the 
demonstration  have  been  better  if  it  could  have  been 
truly  said  that  these  safeguards  had  been  adopted  and 
applied  during  the  civil  wars  and  during  our  revolu- 
tion, instead  of  after  the  one  and  at  the  close  of  the 
other?     I,  too,  am  devotedly  for  them  after  civil  war, 
and  before  civil  war,  and  at  all  times,  "except  when, 
in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety 
may  require"  their  suspension. 

The  resolutions  proceed  to  tell  us  that  these  safe- 
guards "have  stood  the  test  of  seventy-six  years  of 
trial,  under   our   republican    system,  under   circum- 


PEN    AND   VOICE.  265 

stances  that  show  that  while  they  constitute  the 
foundation  of  all  free  government,  they  are  the  ele- 
ments of  the  enduring  stability  of  the  republic." 

No  one  denies  that  they  have  so  stood  the  test  up 
to  the  beginning  of  the  present  rebellion,  if  we  ex- 
cept a  certain  occurrence  at  New  Orleans;  nor  does 
any  one  question  that  they  will  stand  the  same  test 
much  longer  after  the  rebellion  closes.  But  these 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  have  no  application  to 
the  case  we  have  in  hand,  because  the  arrests  com- 
plained of  were  not  made  for  treason — that  is,  not  for 
the  treason  defined  in  the  Constitution,  and  upon  the 
conviction  of  which  the  punishment  is  death — nor  yet 
were  they  made  to  hold  persons  to  answer  for  any 
capital  or  otherwise  infamous  crimes;  nor  were  the 
proceedings  following,  in  any  constitutional  or  legal 
sense,  "criminal  prosecutions."  The  arrests  were 
made  on  totally  different  grounds,  and  the  proceed- 
ings following  accorded  with  the  grounds  of  the 
arrest.  Let  us  consider  the  real  case  with  which  we 
are  dealing,  and  apply  to  it  the  parts  of  the  Constitu- 
tion plainly  made  for  such  cases.  Prior  to  my  instal- 
lation here  it  had  been  inculcated  that  any  state  had 
a  lawful  right  to  secede  from  the  National  Union,  and 
that  it  would  be  expedient  to  exercise  the  right  when- 
ever the  devotees  of  the  doctrine  should  fail  to  elect 
a  president  to  their  own  liking.  I  was  elected  con- 
trary to  their  liking,  and,  accordingly,  so  far  as  it 
was  legally  possible,  they  had  taken  seven  states  out 
of  the  Union,  had  seized  many  of  the  United  States 
forts,  and  had  fired  upon  the  United  States  flag,  all 
23 


266  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

before  I  was  inaugurated;  and,  of  course,  before  I 
had  done  any  official  act  whatever.  The  rebellion 
thus  begun,  soon  ran  into  the  present  civil  war,  and, 
in  certain  respects,  it  began  on  very  unequal  terms 
between  the  parties.  The  insurgents  had  been  pre- 
paring for  it  more  than  thirty  years,  while  the  gov- 
ernment had  taken  no  steps  to  resist  them.  The 
former  had  carefully  considered  all  the  means  which 
could  be  turned  to  their  account. 

It  undoubtedly  was  a  well  pondered  reliance  with 
them  that  in  their  own  unrestricted  efforts  to  destroy 
Union,  Constitution,  and  law,  all  together,  the  gov- 
ernment would,  in  great  degree,  be  restrained  by  the 
same  Constitution  and  law  from  arresting  their  pro- 
gress. Their  sympathizers  pervaded  all  departments 
of  the  government  and  nearly  all  communities  of  the 
people.  From  this  material,  under  cover  of  "lib- 
erty of  speech,"  "  liberty  of  the  press,"  and  "habeas 
corpus,"  they  hoped  to  keep  on  foot  amongst  us  a 
most  efficient  corps  of  spies,  informers,  suppliers,  and 
aiders  and  abettors  of  their  cause  in  a  thousand  ways. 

They  knew  that  in  times  such  as<they  were  inaugu- 
rating, by  the  Constitution  itself,  the  "  habeas  corpus  " 
might  be  suspended;  but  they  also  knew  they  had 
friends  who  would  make  a  question  as  to  who  was  to 
suspend  it;  meanwhile  their  spies  and  others  might 
remain  at  large  to  help  on  their  cause.  Or  if,  as  has 
happened,  the  execution  should  suspend  the  writ, 
without  ruinous  waste  of  time,  instances  of  arresting 
innocent  persons  might  occur,  as  are  always  likely  to 
occur  in  such  cases;  and  then  a  •  clamor  could  be 
raised  in  regard  to  this,  which  might  be,  at  least,  of 


PEN -AND  VOICE.  267 

some  service  to  the  insurgent  cause.  It  needed  no 
very  keen  perception  to  discover  this  part  of  the  ene- 
my's programme,  so  soon  as  by  open  hostilities  their 
machinery  was  fairly  put  in  motion.  Yet,  thoroughly 
imbued  with  a  reverence  for  the  guaranteed  rights  of 
individuals,  I  was  slow  to  adopt  the  strong  measures 
which  by  degress  I  have  been  forced  to  regard  as 
being  within  the  exceptions  of  the  Constitution,  and 
as  indispensable  to  the  public  safety. 

Nothing  is  better  known  to  history  than  that  courts 
of  justice  are  utterly  incompetent  to  such  cases. 
Civil  courts  are  organized  chiefly  for  trials  of  indi- 
viduals, or,  at  most,  a  few  individuals  acting  in  con- 
cert ;  and  this  in  quiet  times,  and  on  charges  of  crimes 
well  defined  in  the  law.  Even  in  times  of  peace,  bands 
of  horse-thieves  and  robbers  frequently  grow  too 
numerous  and  powerful  for  ordinary  courts  of  justice. 
But  what  comparison,  in  numbers,  have  such  bands 
ever  borne  to  the  insurgent  sympathizers  even  in 
many  of  the  loyal  states  ?  Again,  a  jury  too  frequently 
has  at  least  one  member  more  road}'  to  hang  the  panel 
than  to  hang  the  traitor.  And  yet,  again,  he  who 
dissuades  one  man  from  volunteering,  or  induces  one 
soldier  to  desert,  weakens  the  Union  cause  as  much 
as  he  who  kills  a  Union  soldier  in  battle.  Yet  this 
dissuasion  or  inducement  may  be  so  conducted  as  to 
be  no  defined  crime  of  which  any  civil  court  would 
take  cognizance. 

Ours  is  a  case  of  rebellion — so  called  by  the  reso- 
lutions before  me — in  fact,  a  clear,  flagrant  and 
gigantic  case  of  rebellion  ;  and  the  provision  of  the 
Constitution  that  u  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas 


268  Abraham  Lincoln's 

corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless  when  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it," 
is  the  provision  which  specially  applies  to  our  present 
case.  This  provision  plainly  attests  the  understanding 
of  those  who  made  the  Constitution,  that  ordinary 
courts  of  justice  are  inadequate  to  "  cases  of  rebellion'' 
— attests  their  purpose  that,  in  such  cases,  men  may 
be  held  in  custody  whom  the  courts,  acting  on  ordi- 
nary rules,  would  discharge.  Habeas  corpus  does  not 
discharge  men  who  are  proved  to  be  guilty  of  defined 
crime;  audits  suspension  is  allowed  by  the  Consti- 
tution on  purpose  that  men  may  be  arrested  and  held 
who  can  not  be  proved  to  be  guilty  of  defined  crime, 
"when,  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public 
safety  may  require  it." 

This  is  precisely  our  present  case — a  case  of  rebell- 
ion, wherein  the  public  safety  does  require  the  sus- 
pension. Indeed,  arrests  by  process  of  courts,  and 
arrests  in  cases  of  rebellion  do  not  proceed  altogether 
upon  the  same  basis.  The  former  is  directed  at  the 
small  percentage  of  ordinary  and  continuous  perpe- 
tration of  crime,  while  the  latter  is  directed  at  sudden 
and  extensive  uprisings  against  the  government,  which, 
at  most,  will  succeed  or  fail  at  no  great  length  of 
time.  In  the  latter  case,  arrests  are  made,  not  so 
much  for  what  has  been  done,  as  for  what  probably 
would  be  d*one.  The  latter  is  more  for  the  preventive 
and  less  for  the  vindictive  than  the  former.  In  such 
cases  the  purposes  of  men  are  much  more  easily  un- 
derstood than  in  cases  of  ordinary  crime. 

The  man  who  stands  by  and  says  nothing  when  the 
peril  of  his  government  is  discussed,  can  not  be  misun- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  269 

derstood.  If  not  hindered  he  is  sure  to  help  the  enemy ; 
much  more,  if  he  talks  ambiguously — talks  for  his 
country  with  "  buts"  and  "  it's  "  and  "  amis/'  Of  how 
little  value  the  constitutional  provisions  I  have  quoted 
will  be  rendered,  if  arrests  shall  never  be  made  until 
defined  crimes  shall  have  been  committed,  may  be 
illustrated  by  a  few  notable  examples.  General  John 
C.  Breckenridgc,  General  Kobert  E.  Lee,  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  General  John  B.  Magruder, 
General  William  B.  Preston,  General  Simon  B.  Buck- 
ner,  and  Commodore  Franklin  Buchanan,  now  occu- 
pying the  very  highest  places  in  the  rebel  war  service, 
were  all  within  the  power  of  the  government  since 
the  rebellion  began,  and  were  nearly  as  well  known 
to  be  traitors  then  as  now.  Unquestionably  if  we  had 
seized  and  held  them,  the  insurgent  cause  would  be 
much  weaker.  But  no  one  of  them  had  then  com- 
mitted any  crime  defined  in  the  law.  Every  one  of 
them,  if  arrested,  would  have  been  discharged  on 
habeas  corpus  were  the  writ  allowed  to  operate. 

In  view  of  these  and  similar  cases,  I  think  the  time 
not  unlikely  to  come  when  I  shall  be  blamed  for 
having  made  too  few  arrests  rather  than  too  many. 

By  the  third  resolution  the  meeting  indicate  their 
opinion  that  military  arrests  may  be  constitutional  in 
localities  where  rebellion  actually  exists,  but  that  such 
arrests  are  unconstitutional  in  localities  where  rebell- 
ion or  insurrection  does  not  actually  exist.  They  in- 
sist that  such  arrests  shall  not  be  made  "  outside  of 
the  lines  of  necessary  military  occupation  and  the 
scenes  of  insurrection."  Inasmuch,  however,  as  the 
Constitution  itself  makes  no  such  distinction,  I  am 


270  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

unable  to  believe  that  there  is  anv  such  constitutional 
distinction.  I  concede  that  the  class  of  arrests  com- 
plained of  can  be  constitutional  only  when,  in  cases 
of  rebellion  or  invasion,  the  public  safety  may  require 
them;  and  I  insist  that  in  such  cases  they  are  consti- 
tutional, whereas  the  public  safety  does  require  them, 
as  well  in  places  to  which  they  may  prevent  the  re- 
bellion extending  as  in  those  where  it  may  be  already 
prevailing;  as  well  where  they  may  restrain  mischiev- 
ous interference  with  the  raising  and  supplying  of 
armies  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  as  where  the  rebell- 
ion may  actually  be ;  as  well  where  they  may  restrain 
the  enticing  men  out  of  the  army,  as  where  they  would 
prevent  mutiny  in  the  army;  equally  constitutional 
at  all  places  where  they  will  conduce  to  the  public 
safety,  as  against  the  dangers  of  rebellion  or  invasion. 

Take  the  peculiar  case  mentioned  by  the  meeting. 
It  is  asserted,  in  substance,  that  Mr.  Yallandigham 
was,  by  a  military  commander,  seized  and  tried,  "  for 
no  other  reason  than  words  addressed  to  a  public 
meeting,  in  criticism  of  the  course  of  the  administra- 
tion, and  in  condemnation  of  the  military  orders  of  the 
general."  Now  if  there  be  no  mistake  about  this,  if 
this  assertion  is  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth,  if  there 
was  no  other  reason  for  the  arrest,  then  I  concede 
that  the  arrest  was  wrong. 

But  the  arrest,  as  I  understand,  was  made  for  a 
very  different  reason.  Mr.  Yallandigham  avows  his 
hostility  to  the  war  on  the  part  of  the  Union  ;  and  his 
arrest  was  made  because  he  was  laboring,  with  some 
effect,  to  prevent  the  raising  of  troops;  to  encourage 
desertion  from  the  army;  and  to  leave  the  rebellion 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  271 

without  an  adequate  military  force  to  suppress  it. 
Jle  was  not  arrested  because  lie  was  damaging  the 
political  prospects  of  the  administration,  or  the  per- 
sonal interests  of  the  commanding  general,  but  be- 
cause he  was  damaging  the  army,  upon  the  existence 
and  vigor  of  which  the  life  of  the  Nation  depends. 

lie  was  warring  upon  the  military,  and  this  gave 
the  military  constitutional  jurisdiction  to  lay  hands 
upon  him.  If  Mr.  Vallandigham  was  not  damaging 
the  military  power  of  the  country,  then  his  arrest 
was  made  on  mistake  of  fact,  which  I  would  he  glad 
to  correct,  on  reasonably  satisfactory  evidence. 

I  understand  the  meeting,  whose  resolutions  I  am 
considering,  to  be  in  favor  of  suppressing  the  rebel- 
lion by  military  force,  by  armies.  Long  experience 
has  shown  that  armies  can  not  be  maintained  unless 
desertion  shall  be  punished  by  the  severe  penalty  of 
death. 

The  case  requires,  and  the  law  and  the  Constitution 
sanction,  this  punishment.  Must  I  shoot  a  simple- 
minded  soldier  boy  who  deserts,  while  I  must  not 
touch  a  hair  of  a  wily  agitator  who  induces  him  to 
desert  ?  This  is  none  the  less  injurious  when  effected 
by  getting  a  father,  or  brother,  or  friend,  into  a  pub- 
lic meeting,  and  there  working  upon  his  feelings  un- 
til he  is  persuaded  to  write  the  soldier  boy  that  he  is 
fighting  in  a  bad  cause,  for  a  wicked  administration 
of  a  contemptible  government,  too  weak  to  arrest 
and  punish  him  if  he  shall  desert.  I  think  that,  in 
such  a  case,  to  silence  the  agitator,  and  save  the  boy, 
is  not  only  constitutional,  but  withal  a  great  mercy. 
If  I   be-  wrong   on    this    question    of  constitutional 


272  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

power,  my  error  lies  in  believing  that   certain   pro- 
ceedings are  constitutional  when,  in  cases  of  rebell- 
ion   or   invasion,    the    public    safety    requires   them, 
which  would  not  be  constitutional,  in  absence  of  re- 
bellion or  invasion,  the  public  safety  does  not  require 
them;  in  other  words,  that  the  Constitution  is  not  in 
its  application  in  all  respects  the  same,  in  cases  of 
rebellion  or  invasion  involving  the  public  safety,  as  it 
is  in  times  of  profound    peace  and    public  security. 
The  Constitution  itself  makes  the  distinction,  and  I 
can  no  more  be  persuaded  that  the  government  can 
constitutionally  take  no  strong   measures  in  time  of 
rebellion,  because    it    can   be  shown  that   the   same 
could  not  be  lawfully  taken  in  time  of  peace,  then  I 
can  be  persuaded  that  a  particular  drug  is  not  good 
medicine  for  a  sick  man  because  it  can  be  shown  to 
not  be  good  food  for  a  well  one.     Nor  am  I  able  to 
appreciate  the  danger  apprehended  by  the  meeting 
that  the  American  people  will,  by  means  of  military 
arrests  during  the  rebellion,  lose  the  right  of  public 
discussion,  the  liberty  of  speech  and  the  press,  the 
laws  of  evidence,  trial  by  jury,  and  habeas  corpus, 
throughout  the  indefinite   peaceful    future,  which  I 
trust  lies  before  them,  any  more  than  I  am  able  to 
believe  that  a  man  could  contract  so  strong  an  appe- 
tite for  emetics  during  temporary  illness  as  to  persist 
in  feeding  upon  them  during   the  remainder  of  his 
healthful  life. 

In  giving  the  resolutions  that  earnest  consideration 
which  you  request  of  me,  I  can  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  meeting  speak  as  "  Democrats."  Nor  can  I, 
with  full  respect  for  their  known  intelligence,  and 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  273 

the  fairly  presumed  deliberation  with  which  they  pre- 
pared their  resolutions,  be  permitted  to  suppose  that 
this  occurred  by  accident,  or  in  any  way  other  than 
that  they  preferred  to  designate  themselves  "  Demo- 
crats" rather  than  American  citizens.  In  this  time 
of  national  peril,  I  would  have  preferred  to  meet  you 
on  a  level  one  step  higher  than  any  party  platform  ;  be- 
cause I  am  sure  that,  from  such  more  elevated  position, 
we  could  do  better  battle  for  the  country  we  all  love 
than  we  possibly  can  from  those  lower  ones,  where, 
from  the  force  of  habit,  the  prejudices  of  the  past,  and 
selfish  hopes  of  the  future,  we  are  sure  to  expend 
much  of  our  ingenuity  and  strength  in  finding  fault 
with,  and  aiming  blows  at,  each  other.  But,  since 
you  have  denied  me  this,  I  will  yet  be  thankful,  for 
the  country's  sake,  that  not  all  Democrats  have 
done  so. 

lie  on  whose  discretionary  judgment  Mr.  Vallan- 
dighaiu  was  arrested  and  tried  is  a  Democrat,  having 
no  old  party  affinity  with  me;  and  the  judge  who 
rejected  the  constitutional  view  expressed  in  these 
resolutions,  by  refusing  to  discharge  Mr.  Vallandig- 
ham  on  habeas  corpus  is  a  Democrat  of  better  days 
than  these,  having  received  his  judicial  mantle  at  the 
hands  of  President  Jackson.  And  still  more,  of  all 
those  Democrats  who  are  nobly  exposing  their  lives 
and  shedding  their  blood  on  the  battle  field,  I  have 
learned  that  many  approve  the  course  taken  with 
Mr.  Yallandigham,  while  I  have  not  heard  of  a  sin- 
gle one  condemning  it.  I  can  not  assert  that  there 
are  none  such.  And  the  name  of  President  Jackson 
recalls   an  instance   of  pertinent  history.     After  the 


274  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  while  the  fact  that  the 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  concluded  was  well  known 
in  the  city,  but  before  official  knowledge  of  it  had  ar- 
rived, General  Jackson  still  maintained  martial  or 
military  law.  Now  that  it  could  be  said  the  war  was 
over,  the  clamor  against  martial  law,  which  had  ex- 
isted from  the  first,  grew  more  furious.  Among 
other  things,  a  Mr.  Lonaillier  published  a  denuncia- 
tory newspaper  article.  General  Jackson  arrested 
him.  A  lawyer  by  the  name  of  Morel  procured  the 
United  States  Judge,  Hall,  to  order  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  to  relieve  Mr.  Lonaillier.  General  Jackson 
arrested  both  the  lawyer  and  the  judge.  A  Mr.  Hol- 
lander ventured  to  say  of  some  part  of  the  matter 
that  "  it  was  a  dirty  trick."  General  Jackson  ar- 
rested him.  When  the  officer  undertook  to  serve 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  General  Jackson  took  it 
from  him,  and  sent  him  away  with  a  copy.  Holding 
the  judge  in  custody  a  few  days,  the  general  sent 
him  beyond  the  limits  of  his  encampment,  and  set 
him  at  liberty,  with  an  order  to  remain  till  the  ratifi- 
cation of  peace  should  be  regularly  announced,  or 
until  the  British  should  have  left  the  southern  coast. 
A  day  or  two  more  elapsed,  the  ratification  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  was  regularly  announced,  and  the 
judge  and  others  were  fully  liberated.  A  few  days 
more,  and  the  judge  called  General  Jackson  into 
court,  and  fined  him  $1,000  for  having  arrested  him 
and  the  others  named.  The  general  paid  the  tine, 
and  there  the  matter  rested  for  nearly  thirty  years, 
when  Congress  refunded  principal  and  interest.  The 
late   Senator  Douglas,  when  in  the  House  of  Repre- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  275 

sentatives,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates,  in  which 
the  constitutional  question  was  much  discussed.  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say  whom  the  journals  would 
show  to  have  voted  for  the  measure. 

It  may  be  remarked :  First,  that  we  had  the  same 
Constitution  then  as  now  ;  secondly,  that  we  then  had 
a  case  of  invasion,  and  now  we  have  a  case  of  re- 
bellion ;  and,  thirdly,  that  the  permanent  right  of  the 
people  to  public  discussion,  the  liberty  of  speech  and 
of  the  press,  the  trial  by  jury,  the  law  of  evidence, 
and  the  habeas  corpus,  suffered  no  detriment  what- 
ever by  that  conduct  of  General  Jackson,  or  its  sub- 
sequent approval  by  the  American  Congress, 

And  yet,  let  me  say,  that  in  my  own  discretion,  I 
do  not  know  whether  I  would  have  ordered  the  ar- 
rest of  Mr.  Vallandigham.  While  I  can  not  shift 
the  responsibility  from  myself,  I  hold  that,  as  a  gen- 
eral rule,  the  commander  in  the  field  is  the  better 
judge  of  the  necessity  in  any  particular  case. 

Of  course,  I  must  practice  a  general  directory  and 
revisory  power  in  the  matter. 

One  of  the  resolutions  expresses  the  opinion  of  the 
meeting  that  arbitrary  arrests  will  have  the  effect 
to  divide  and  distract  those  who  should  be  united  in 
suppressing  the  rebellion,  and  I  am  specifically  called 
on  to  discharge  Mr.  Vallandigham.  I  regard  this 
as,  at  least,  a  fair  appeal  to  me  on  the  expediency  of 
exercising  a  constitutional  power  which  I  think  ex- 
ists. Iu  response  to  such  appeal,  I  have  to  say,  it 
gave  me  pain  when  I  learned  that  Mr.  Vallandigham 
had  been  arrested ;  that  is,  I  was  pained  that  there 
should  have  seemed  to  be   a  necessity  for  arresting 


276  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

him,  and  that  it  will  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  dis- 
charge him  so  soon  as  I  can  by  any  means,  believe 
the  public  safety  will  not  suffer  by  it. 

I  further  say  that  as  the  war  progresses,  it  appears 
to  me  opinion  and  action,  which  were  in  great  con- 
fusion at  first,  take  shape  and  fall  into  more  regular 
channels,  so  that  the  necessity  for  strong  dealing 
with  them  gradually  decreases.  I  have  every  reason 
to  desire  that  it  shall  cease  altogether,  and  far  from 
the  least  is  my  regard  for  the  opinion  and  wishes  of 
those  who  like  the  meeting  at  Albany,  declare  their 
purpose  to  sustain  the  government  in  every  consti- 
tutional and  lawful  measure  to  suppress  the  rebellion. 
Still,  I  must  continue  to  do  so  much  as  may  seem 
to  be  required  by  the  public  safety.         A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Hooker. 

June  14,  1863,  5:50  P.  31. 
So  far  as  we  can  make  out  here,  the  enemy  have 
Milroy  surrounded  at  Winchester,  and  Tyler  at  Mar- 
tinsburg.  If  they  could  hold  out  a  few  days,  could 
you  help  them  ?  If  the  head  of  Lee's  army  is  at 
Martinsburg  and  the  tail  of  it  on  the  plank-road  be- 
tween Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  the  ani- 
mal must  be  very  slim  somewhere.  Could  you  not 
break  him  ?  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Hooker. 

June  14,  1863,  11:55  P.  M. 
Yours  of  11:30  just  received.     You  have  nearly  all 
the  elements  for  forming  an  opinion  whether  Win- 
chester is  surrounded  that  I  have.     I  really  fear,  al- 
most believe,  it  is.      No   communication   has  been 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  277 

had  with  it  during  the  day  cither  at  Martinsburg  or 
Harper's  Ferry.  At  7  p.  m.  we  also  lost  communica- 
tion with  Martinsburg.  The  enemy  had  also  ap- 
peared there  some  hours  before.  At  nine  p.  m. 
Harper's  Ferry  said  the  enemy  was  also  reported  at 
Berryville  and  Smithfield.  If  I  could  know  that,  and 
Ewell  moved  in  that  direction  so  long  ago  as  you 
stated  in  your  last,  then  I  should  feel  sure  that  Win- 
chester is  strongly  invested.  It  is  quite  certain  that 
a  considerable  force  of  the  enemy  is  thereabout,  and 
I  fear  it  is  an  overwhelming  one  compared  with 
Milroy's.  I  am  unable  to  give  any  more  certain 
opinion.  A.  Lincoln. 

A  Proclamation   by  the  President  of   the   United 
States  of  America. 

War  Department,  June  15,  1863. 

Whereas,  the  armed  insurrectionary  combinations 
now  existing  in  several  of  the  states  are  threatening 
to  make  inroads  into  the  states  of  Maryland,  West 
Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  requiring  im- 
mediately an  additional  force  for  the  service  of  the 
United  States, 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  and  navy  thereof,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  sev- 
eral states  when  called  into  actual  service,  do  hereby 
call  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  100,000 
militia  from  the  states  following,  namely:  From  the 
State  of  Maryland,  10,000;  from  the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 50,000;  from  the  State  of  Ohio,  30,000; 
from  the  State  of  West  Virginia,  10,000,  to  be  mus- 


278  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

tered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States  forthwith, 
and  to  serve  for  the  period  of  six  months  from  the 
date  of  Buch  muster  into  said  service,  unless  sooner 
discharged;  to  be  mustered  in  as  infantry,  artillery, 
and  cavalry,  in  proportions  which  will  be  made 
known  through  the  War  Department,  which  depart- 
ment will  also  designate  the  several  places  of  ren- 
dezvous. These  militia  to  be  organized  according  to 
the  rules  and  regulations  of  the  volunteer  service, 
and  such  orders  as  may  hereafter  be  issued.  The 
states  aforesaid  will  be  respectively  under  the  enroll- 
ment act  for  the  militia  service  rendered  under  this 
proclamation. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
hand,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
affixed. 

Done  at  the  City  of  "Washington,  this  fifteenth  day 
of  June,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  the  eighty-seventh.     A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major- General  Hooker. 

Washington,  June  16,  1863,  10  A.  M. 
To  remove  all  misunderstanding,  I  now  place  you 
in  the  strict  military  relation  to  General  Ilalleck  of  a 
commander  of  one  of  the  armies  to  the  general-in- 
chief  of  all  the  armies. 

I  have  not  intended  differently,  but,  as  it  seems  to 
be  differently  understood,  I  shall  direct  him  to  give 
you  orders  and  you  to  obey  them.  A.  Lincoln. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  270 

To  Hon.  J.  K.  Moorehead,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

Washington,  June  18,  1863,  10:40  A.  31. 

If  General  Brooks,  now  in  command  at  Pittsburg, 

finds  any  person  or  persons  injuriously  affecting  his 

military  operations,  he  is  authorized  to  arrest  him  or 

them  at  once,  if  the  case  is  urgent.     If  not  urgent, 

let  him  communicate  the  particulars  to  me.     General 

Brooks  is  the  man  to   now   manage  the   matter  at 

Pittsburg.     Please  show  this  to  him. 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  John  M.  Schofield. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  June  22,  1863. 

31;/  Dear  Sir: — Your  dispatch,  asking  in  substance 
whether,  in  case  Missouri  shall  adopt  gradual  eman- 
cipation, the  General  Government  will  protect  slave 
owners  in  that  species  of  property  during  the  short 
time  it  shall  be  permitted  by  the  state  to  exist  within 
it,  has  been  received.  Desirous  as  I  am  that  emanci- 
pation shall  be  adopted  by  Missouri,  and  believing  as 
I  do  that  gradual  can  be  made  better  than  immediate 
for  both  black  and  white,  except  when  military  neces- 
sity changes  the  case,  my  impulse  is  to  say  that  such 
protection  would  be  given.  I  can  not  know  exactly 
what  shape  an  act  of  emancipation  may  take.  If  the 
period  from  the  initiation  to  the  final  end  should  be 
comparatively  short,  and  the  act  should  prevent  per- 
sons being  sold  during  that  period  into  more  lasting 
slavery,  the  whole  would  be  easier. 

I  do  not  wish  to  pledge  the  general  government 
to  the  affirmative  support  of  even  temporary  slavery 


280  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

beyond  what  can  be  fairly  claimed  under  the  Consti- 
tution. 

I  suppose,  however,  this  is  not  desired,  but  that  it 
is  desired  for  the  military  force  of  the  United  States, 
while  in  Missouri,  to  not  be  used  in  subverting  the 
temporarily  reserved  legal  rights  in  slaves  during  the 
progress  of  emancipation.  This  I  would  desire  also. 
I  have  very  earnestly  urged  the  slave  states  to  adopt 
emancipation  ;  and  it  ought  to  be,  and  is,  an  object 
with  me  not  to  overthrow  or  thwart  what  any  of 
them  may,  in  good  faith,  do  to  that  end.  You  are, 
therefore,  authorized  to  act  in  the  spirit  of  this  letter 
in  conjunction  with  what  may  appear  to  be  the  mili- 
tary necessities  of  your  department. 

Although  this  letter  will  become  public  at  some 
time,  it  is  not  intended  to  be  made  so  now. 

Yours,  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

The  President's  Announcement  of  the   Success  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac 

July  4,  1863. 
The  President  announces  to  the  country  that  news 
from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  up  to  ten  p.  M.  of  the 
3d,  is  such  as  to  cover  that  army  with  the  highest 
honor;  to  promise  a  great  success  to  the  cause  of  the 
Union,  and  to  claim  the  condolence  of  all  for  the 
many  gallant  fallen;  and  that  for  this,  he  especially 
desires  that  on  this  day  He  whose  will,  not  ours, 
should  ever  be  done,  be  every-where  remembered 
and  reverenced  with  the  profoundest  gratitude. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  281 

Response  to  a  Serenade,  July,  1863. 
Fellow-citizens: — I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  see  you 
bo-night,  and  yet  I  will  not  say  I  thank  you  for  this 
call ;  but  I  do  most  sincerely  thank  Almighty  God 
for  the  occasion  on  which  you  have  called.  How 
long  ago  is  it — eighty  odd  years  since  on  the  Fourth 
of  July,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
a  nation,  by  its  representatives,  assembled  and  de- 
clared as  a  self-evident  truth  that  "  all  men  are  cre- 
ated equal."  That  was  the  birthday  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  Since  then  the  Fourth  of  July 
has  had  several  very  peculiar  recognitions.  The  two 
men  most  distinguished  in  the  framing  and  the  sup- 
port of  the  declaration  were  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
John  Adams  —  the  one  having  penned  it,  and  the 
other  sustained  it  the  most  forcibly  in  debate — the 
only  two  of  the  fifty-five  who  signed  it,  and  were 
elected  President  of  the  United  States.  Precisely 
fifty  years  after  they  put  their  hands  to  the  paper,  it 
pleased  Almighty  God  to  take  both  from  this  stage 
of  action.  This  was  indeed  an  extraordinary  and 
remarkable  event  in  our  history.  Another  Presi- 
dent, five  years  after,  was  called  from  this  stage  of 
existence  on  the  same  day  and  month  of  the  year; 
and  now  on  this  last  Fourth  of  July,  just  passed, 
when  we  have  a  gigantic  rebellion,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  is  an  effort  to  overthrow  the  principle  that  all 
men  were  created  equal,  we  have  the  surrender  of  a 
most  powerful  position  and  army  on  that  very  day. 
And  not  only  so,  but  in  a  succession  of  battles  in 
21 


282  ABRAHAM    LIKCOLH'S 

Pennsylvania,  near  to  us.  through  three  day-,  bo  rap- 
idly fought  that  they  might  be  called  one  great  bat- 
tie.  on  the  first,  second  and  third  of  the  month  of 
July ;  and  on  the  fourth  the  cohorts  of  those  who 
opposed  the  declaration  that  all  men  are  created 
aal  -turned  tail"  and  run.  Gentlemen,  this  is  a 
glorious  theme,  and  th<  -     n  for  a  speech,  but  I 

am  not  prepared  to  make  one  worthy  of  the  occasion. 
I  would  like  to  speak  in  terms  of  praise  due  to  the 
many  brave  officers  and  soldiers  who  have  fought  in 
the  cause  of  the  Union  and  liber"  -  :'  their  country 
from  the  beginning  of  the  war.  These  are  trying 
occasions,  not  only  in  su<  38,1  t  for  the  want  ot 
su.  ess.  I  dislike  to  mention  the  name  of  one  single 
.. mcer.  lest  I  might  <;  _  :o  those  I  might  forget. 

Recent  events  bring  up  glorious  names,  and  particu- 
larly prominent  ones;  but  these  I  will  not  mention. 
Having  said  this  much,  I  will  now  take  the  music. 

To  Major-General  Curtis. 

V.  y.      Hon,  Washi  i,  18 

j/;/  J)        Sir:— I  am  having  a  -       I  deal  of  trouble 
with  Missouri  matters,  and  I  now  sit  down  to  write 
d  particularly  about  it.     One  class  of  friends  1 
ve  in  greater  severity,  and  another  in  greater  leni- 
ency in  regard   to    arr  unishments  and  assess- 
ments. 

Asne  ich  cases,  each  questions  the  other"s 

motr  -.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  i  sisl  1  that  Gov- 
ernor Gamble's  unionism  at  m  -".  :s  not  better  than 
a  secondary  spring  of  aeti<m  ;  that  hunkerism  and  a 
wish   for  political    influence    stand    before    unionism 


--   -     ■  •  _ 

1. 
morning  I  v.  id  by  a  gentleman,  wlao  I 

have  no  do  :  -at  in  one  ease 

_"■---       ■  • 

-     a     -       spockei 

l 
can ;  . 

-  -   -  -  -  -      -       -  •:     i'    : :    ~  •"    ' 

Missouri  exist.  ..--.-  -      - 

m.  :        - 

I 

TV  T  -      -    .  ' 

■   -     --...-        -.        -.  f  Si 

_  :ri  bo:  aid  a  pap- 

fore  n       -  :     .         -         i       j  -    .  -      - 

- 

* 

_      .  -    .  -  •  -" 

- 
tog  .-.---. 

it  informal  -        " 

-       I  .     ■ 

- 


281  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

agree  upon.     There  is  absolutely  no  reason  why  you 
should  not  agree.     Yours,  as  ever,         A.  Lincoln. 

P.  S.  I  forgot  to  say  that  Hon.  James  S.  Rollins, 
member  of  Congress  from  one  of  the  Missouri  dis- 
tricts, wishes  that,  upon  his  personal  responsibility, 
Rev.  John  M.  Robinson,  of  Columbia,  Mo.,  James  L. 
Mathews,  of  Boone  county,  Missouri,  and  James  L. 
Stevens,  also  of  Boone  county,  Missouri,  may  be  al- 
lowed to  return  to  their  respective  homes.  Major 
Rollins  leaves  with  me  very  strong  papers  from  the 
neighbors  of  these  men,  whom  he  says  he  knows  to 
be  true  men.  He  also  says  he  has  many  constituents 
who  he  thinks  are  rightly  exiled,  but  that  he  thinks 
these  three  should  be  allowed  to  return. 

Please  look  into  the  case,  and  oblige  Major  Rollins, 
if  you  consistently  can.     Yours  truly,     A.Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Halleck. 
Soldiers'  Home  [Washington],  July  6,  1863,  7  p.  m. 
I  left  the  telegraph  office  a  good  deal  dissatisfied. 
You  know  I  did  not  like  the  phrase  in  order  No.  68, 
I  believe,  "Drive  the  invaders  from  our  soil."  Since 
that,  I  see  a  dispatch  from  General  French,  saying 
the  enemy  is  crossing  his  wounded  over  the  river  in 
fiats,  without  saying  why  he  does  not  stop  it,  or  even 
insinuating  a  thought  that  it  ought  to  be  stopped.  Still 
later,  another  dispatch  from  General  Pleasonton,  by 
direction  of  General  Meade,  to  General  French,  stat- 
ing that  the  main  army  is  halted  because  it  is  believed 
the  rebels  are  concentrating  "  on  the  road  toward 
Hagerstown,  beyond  Fairfield,"  and  is  not  to  move 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  285 

until  it  is  ascertained  that  the  rebels  intend  to  evacu- 
ate Cumberland  Valley. 

These  things  all  appear  to  me  to  be  connected  with 
a  purpose  to  cover  Baltimore  and  Washington,  and 
to  get  the  enemy  across  the  river  again  without  a  fur- 
ther collision,  and  they  do  not  appear  connected  with 
a  purpose  to  prevent  his  crossing,  and  to  destroy  him. 
I  do  fear  the  former  purpose  is  acted  upon,  and  the 
latter  is  rejected. 

If  you  arc  satisfied  the  latter  purpose  is  entertained 
and  is  judiciously  pursued,  I  am  content.  If  you 
are  not  so  satisfied,  please  look  to  it.     Yours  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

WarDep'L,  Washington,  July  8,  1803,  12:30  P.  if. 

Your  dispatch  of  this  morning  to  the  Secretary  of 
War  is  before  me. 

The  forces  you  speak  of  will  be  of  no  imaginable 
service  if  they  can  not  go  forward  with  a  little  more 
expedition. 

Lee  is  now  passing  the  Potomac  faster  than  the 
forces  you  mention  are  passing  Carlisle. 

Forces  now  beyond  Carlisle  to  be  joined  by  regi- 
ments still  at  Harrisburg,  and  the  united  force  to 
to  again  join  Pierce  somewhere,  and  the  whole  to 
move  down  the  Cumberland  Valley,  will,  in  my  un- 
professional opinion,  be  quite  as  likely  to  capture  the 
"  man  in  the  moon  "  as  any  part  of  Lee's  army. 

A.  Lincoln. 


286  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN  S 

To  Hon.  J.  X.  Dubois,  Springfield,  III. 
Washington,  D.  C,  July  11, 1863,  9  A.M. 
It  is  certain  that  after  three  .lays  fighting  at  Gettys- 
burg-, Lee  withdrew  and  made  for  the  Potomac;  that 
he  found  the  river  so  swollen  as  to  prevent  his  cross- 
ing :  that  he  is  still  this  side,  near  Ilagerstown  and 
Williamsport,  preparing  to  defend  himself;  and  that 
Meade  is  close  upon  him.  and  preparing  to  attaek 
him,  heavy  skirmishing  having  occurred  nearly  all 
day  yesterday,  I  am  more  than  satisfied  with  what 
has  happened  north  of  the  Potomac  so  far,  and  am 
anxious  and  hopeful  for  what  is  to  come. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  Grant,  July  13,  1860. 

My  Dear  General:—!  do  not  rememher  that  you 
and  I  ever  met  personally.  I  write  this  now  as  a 
grateful  acknowledgment  for  the  almost  inestimable 
services  you  have  done  the  country. 

I  wish  to  say  a  word  further.  \Vhen  you  reached 
the  vicinity  of  Vickshurg.  I  thought  you  should  do 
what  you  finally  did — march  the  troops  across  the 
neck,  run  the  Latteries  with  the  transports,  and  thus 
£o  "below;  and  I  never  had  any  faith,  except  in  a 
general  hope,  that  you  knew  better  than  I,  that  the 
Yazoo  Ta>s  expedition  and  the  like  would  succeed. 

When  you  got  helow  and  took  Fort  Gibson,  Grand 
Gulf,  and  vicinity.  I  thought  you  should  go  down 
the  river  and  join  General  Banks;  and  when  you 
turned  northward,  east  of  the  Big  Black,  I  feared  it 


PKN    AND    VOICE.  287 

was  a  mistake.     I  now  wish  to  make  a  personal  ac- 
knowledgment that  yon  were  right  and  I  was  wrong. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Call  for  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer,  Sim- 
mer of  1863. 

After  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  President  Lincoln 
culled  upon  the  people  as  follows : 

"  To  set  apart  a  time  in  the  near  future,  to  be  ob- 
served as  a  day  for  national  thanksgiving,  praise  and 
prayer  to  Almighty  God,  for  the  wonderful  things 
lie  had  done  in  the  nation's  behalf,  and  to  invoke  the 
influence  of  his  Holy  Spirit  to  subdue  the  anger 
which  has  produced  and  so  long  sustained  a  needless 
and  cruel  rebellion,  to  change  the  hearts  of  the  insur- 
gents, to  guide  the  councils  of  the  government  with 
wisdom  adequate  to  so  great  a  national  emergency  ; 
and  to  visit  with  tender  care  and  consolation  through- 
out the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  all  those 
who,  through  the  vicissitudes  and  marches,  voyages, 
battles,  and  sieges,  had  been  brought  to  sutler  in 
mind,  body,  or  estate,  and  finally,  to  lead  the  whole 
nation,  through  paths  of  repentance  and  submission 
to  the  Divine  will,  back  to  the  perfect  enjoyment  of 
Union  and  fraternal  peace.'' 

A  Proclamation.  July  15,  18G3. 
It  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  hearken  to  the 
supplications  and  prayers  of  an  afflicted  people,  and 
to  vouchsafe  to  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United 
States,  on  the  land  and  on  the  sea,  victories  so  signal 
and  so  effective  as  to  furnish  reasonable  grounds  for 


288  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

augmented  confidence  that  the  Union  of  these  states 
will  be  maintained,  their  constitution  preserved,  and 
their  peace  and  prosperity  permanently  secured  ;  but 
these  victories  have  been  accorded,  not  without  sacri- 
fice of  life,  limb,  and  liberty,  incurred  by  brave, 
patriotic,  and  loyal  citizens.  Domestic  affliction  in 
every  part  of  the  country  follows  in  the  train  of  these 
fearful  bereavements. 

It  is  meet  and  right  to  recognize  and  confess  the 
presence  of  the  Almighty  Father,  and  the  power 
of  his  hand  equally  in  these  triumphs  and  these 
sorrows. 

Now,  therefore,  be  it  known,  that  I  do  set  apart 
Thursday,  the  sixth  day  of  August  next,  to  be  ob- 
served as  a  day  for  national  thanksgiving,  praise, 
and  prayer ;  and  I  invite  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  assemble  on  that  occasion  in  their  customary 
places  of  worship,  and  in  the  form  approved  by  their 
own  conscience,  render  the  homage  due  to  the  Divine 
Majesty,  for  the  wonderful  tilings  He  has  done  in 
the  nation's  behalf,  and  invoke  the  influence  of  his 
Holy  Spirit,  to  subdue  the  anger  which  has  pro- 
duced and  so  long  sustained  a  needless  and  cruel  re- 
bellion, to  change  the  hearts  of  the  insurgents,  to 
guide  the  councils  of  the  government  with  wisdom 
adequate  to  so  great  a  national  emergency,  and  to 
visit  with  tender  care  and  consolation,  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  all  those  who, 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  marches,  voyages,  battles, 
and  seiges,  have  been  brought  to  suffer  in  mind, 
body,  or  estate,  and  finally,  to  lead  the  whole  nation 
through  paths  of  repentance  and  submission  to  the 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  289 

Divine  will,  back  to  the  perfect  enjoyment  of  Union 
and  fraternal  peace. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be 
affix  i'd. 

Done  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  15th  day  of 
July,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty-eighth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Governor  Seymour,  July,  1863. 

I  do  not  object  to  abide  the  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  or  of  the  judges  thereof,  on 
the  consitutionality  of  the  draft  law.  In  fact,  I 
should  be  willing  to  facilitate  the  obtaining  of  it. 
But  I  can  not  consent  to  lose  the  time-while  it  is  be- 
ing obtained.  We  are  contending  with  an  enemy 
who,  as  I  understand,  drives  every  able  bodied  man 
he  can  reach  into  his  ranks,  very  much  as  a  butcher 
drives  bullocks  into  a  slaughter  pen.  No  time  is 
wasted,  no  argument  is  used.  This  produces  an  army 
which  will  soon  turn  upon  our  now  victorious  soldiers 
already  in  the  field,  if  they  shall  not  be  sustained  by 
recruits  as  they  should  be.  It  produces  an  army  with 
a  rapidity  not  to  be 'matched  on  our  side,  if  we  first 
waste  time  to  re-experiment  with  a  vomnteer  system, 
already  deemed  by  Congress,  and  palpably,  in  fact, 
so  far  exhausted  as  to  be  inadequate  ;  and  then  more 
time  to  obtain  a  court  decision,  as  to  whether  a  law 
is  constitutional  which  requires  a  part  of  those  not 
25 


290  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

now  in  service  to  go  to  the  aid  of  those  who  are  al- 
ready in  it;  and  still  more  time  to  determine  with 
absolute  certainty  that  we  get  those  who  are  to  go  in 
the  precisely  legal  proportion  to  those  who  are  not  to 
-go.  My  purpose  is  to  be  in  my  action  just  and  con- 
stitutional, and  yet  practical  in  performing  the  im- 
portant duty  with  which  I  am  charged,  of  maintaining 
the  unity  and  the  free  principles  of  our  common  coun- 
try. A.  Lincoln. 

To  His  Excellency,  Joel  Parker,  Governor  of  New 

Jersey. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  20,  1863. 
Dear  Sir: — Yours  of  the  17th  has  been  received  and 
considered  by  the  Secretary  of  War  and  myself.  I 
was  pained  to  be  informed  this  morning,  by  the  pro- 
vost marshal  general,  that  New  Jersey  is  now  behind 
twelve  thousand,  irrespective  of  the  draft.  I  did  not 
have  time  to  ascertain  by  what  rule  this  was  made 
out;  and  I  shall  be  very  glad  if  it  shall,  by  any  means, 
prove  to  be  incorrect.  lie  also  tells  me  that  eight 
thousand  will  be  the  quota  of  Xcw  Jersey  on  the  first 
draft ;  and  the  Secretary  of  War  says  the  first  draft  in 
that  state  would  not  be  made  for  some  time,  in  any 
event.  As  every  man  obtained  otherwise  lessens  the 
draft  so  much,  and  thus  may  supersede  it  altogether,  I 
hope  you  will  push  forward  your  volunteer  regiments 
as  fast  as  possible.  It  is  a  very  delicate  matter  to  post- 
pone the  draft  of  one  state,  because  of  the  argument 
it  furnishes  others  to  have  postponement  also.  If  we 
could  have  a  reason  in  one  case  which  would  be  good 
if  presented  in  all  cases,  we  could  act  upon  it.     I  will 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  291 

thank  you  therefore  to  inform  me,  if  you  can,  by  what 
day,  as  the  earliest,  you  can  promise  to  have  ready  to 
be  mustered  into  the  United  States  service  the  eight 
thousand  men.  If  you  can  make  a  reliable  promise 
(I  mean  one  on  which  you  can  yourself  rely),  of  this 
sort,  it  will  be  of  great  value,  if  the  day  is  not  too  re- 
mote. 

I  beg  you  to  be  assured  I  wish  to  avoid  the  diffi- 
culties you  dread,  as  much  as  yourself. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Hon.  Postmaster-General. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  24,  18G3. 
Yesterday  little  indorsements  of  mine  went  to  you  in 
two  cases  of  postm'asterships  sought  for  widows  whose 
husbands  have  fallen  in  the  battles  of  this  war.  These 
•  •asi's  occurring  on  the  same  day,  brought  me  to  re- 
liect  more  attentively  than  I  had  before  done  as  to 
what  is  fairly  due  from  us  here  in  the  dispensing  of 
patronage  toward  the  men  who,  by  lighting  our  bat- 
tles, bear  the  chief  burden  of  saving  our  country. 
My  conclusion  is,  that  other  claims  and  qualifications 
being  equal,  they  have  the  better  right,  and  this  is 
especially  applicable  to  the  disabled  soldier  and  the 
deceased  soldier's  family. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  His  Excellency,  Governor  Joel  Parker. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  25,  1863. 
Sir: — Yours  of  the  21st  is  received,  and    I    have 
taken  time  and  considered  and  discussed  the  subject 
with  Secretary  of  War  and  provost  marshal  general, 


292  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

in  order,  if  possible,  to  make  you  a  more  favorable 
answer  that  I  finally  find  myself  able  to  do. 

It  is  a  vital  point  with  us  to  not  have  a  special  stip- 
ulation with  the  governor  of  any  one  state,  because  it 
would  breed  trouble  in  many,  if  not  all  other  states; 
and  my  idea  was,  when  I  wrote  you,  as  it  still  is,  to 
get  a  point  of  time  to  which  we  could  wait,  on  the 
reason  that  we  were  not  ready  ourselves  to  proceed, 
and  which  might  enable  you  to  raise  the  quota  of 
your  state,  in  whole,  or  in  large  part,  without  the 
draft.  The  points  of  time  you  fix  are  much  further 
oft'  than  I  had  hoped.  "We  might  have  got  along  in 
the  way  I  have  indicated  for  twenty,  or  possibly  thirty 
days.  As  it  stands,  the  best  I  can  say  is  that  every 
volunteer  you  will  present  us  within  thirty  days  from 
the  date,  fit  and  ready  to  be  mustered  into  the  United 
States  service,  on  the  usual  terms,  shall  be  pro  tanto, 
an  abatement  of  your  quota  of  the  draft.  That  quota 
I  can  now  state  at  eight  thousand,  seven  hundred  and 
eighty-three  (8,783).  No  draft  from  New  Jersey, 
other  than  for  the  above  quota,  will  be  made  before 
an  additional  draft,  common  to  all  the  states,  shall  be 
required;  and  I  may  add,  that  if  we  get  well  through 
with  this  draft,  I  entertain  a  strong  hope  that  any 
further  one  may  never  be  needed.  This  expression 
of  hope,  however,  must  not  be  construed  into  a 
promise. 

As  to  conducting  the  draft  by  townships,  I  find  it 
wTould  require  such  a  waste  of  labor  already  done,  and 
such  an  additional  amount  of  it,  and  such  a  loss  of 
time  as  to  make  it,  I  fear,  inadvisable. 

P.  S. — Since  writing  the  above,  getting  additional 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  293 

information,  I  am  enabled  to  say  that  the  draft  may 
be  made  in  sub-districts,  as  the  enrollment  has  been 
made,  or  is  now  in  process  of  making.  This  will 
amount  practically  to  drafting  by  townships,  as  the 
enrollment  sub-distriets  are  generally  about  the  extent 
of  townships.  Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  Lincoln'. 

To  Major- General  Burnslde,  Cincinnati,  O. 
War  Department,  Washington,  July  27,  1863. 

Let  me  explain.  In  General  Grant's  first  dispatch 
after  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  he  said,  among  other  things, 
he  would  send  the  ninth  corps  to  you. 

Thinking  it  would  be  pleasant  news  to  you,  I  asked 
the  Secretary  of  \Var  to  telegraph  you  the  news.  For 
some  reasons  never  mentioned  to  us  by  General  Grant, 
they  have  not  been  sent,  though  we  have  seen  outside 
intimations,  that  they  took  part  in  the  expedition 
against  Jackson. 

General  Grant  is  a  copious  worker  and  tighter,  but 
a  very  meager  writer  or  telegrapher.  No  doubt  he 
changed  his  purpose  in  regard  to  the  ninth  corps  for 
some  sufficient  reason,  but  has  forgotten  to  notify  us 
of  it.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  IIalleck. 

Executive  Mansion,  Jul'/  20,  1863. 
Seeing  General  Meade's  dispatch  of  yesterday  to 
yourself,  causes  me  to  fear  that  he  supposes  the 
government  here  is  demanding  of  him  to  bring  on  a 
general  engagement  with  Lee  as  soon  as  possible.  I 
am  claiming  no  such  thing  of  him.     In  fact,  my  judg- 


294  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

ment  is  against  it,  which  judgment,  of  course,  I  will 
yield  if  yours  and  his  are  the  contrary.  If  he  could 
not  safely  engage  Lee  at  Williamsport,  it  seems  ab- 
sured  to  suppose  he  can  safely  engage  him  now,  when 
he  has  scarcely  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  force  he 
j  had  at  Williamsport,  while,  it  must  he  that  Lee  has 
been  re-inforced.  True,  I  desired  General  Meade  to 
pursue  Lee  across  the  Potomac,  hoping,  as  it  proved 
true,  that  he  would  thereby  clear  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad,  and  get  some  advantage  by  harassing 
him  on  his  retreat,  These  being  past,  I  am  unwilling 
he  should  now  get  into  a  general  engagement  on  the 
impression  that  we  here  are  pressing  him,  and  I  shall 
be  glad  for  you  to  so  inform  him,  unless  your  own 
judgment  is  against  it.     Yours,  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

Reply  to  Letter  from  Ohio  Democrats. 

July  29,  1863. 
The  resolution  of  the  Ohio  Democratic  State  Con- 
vention, which  you  present  me,  together  with  your 
introductory  and  closing  remarks,  being  in  position 
and  argument  mainly  the  same  as  the  resolutions  of 
the  Democratic  meeting  at  Albany,  X.  Y.,  I  refer  you 
to  my  response  to  the  later  as  meeting  most  of  the 
points  in  the  former.  This  response  you  evidently  used 
in  preparing  you  remarks,  and  I  desire  no  more  than 
that  it  be  used  with  accuracy.  In  a  single  reading  of 
y<  «ur  remarks,  I  only  discovered  one  inaccuracy  in  mat- 
ter which  I  suppose  you  took  from  that  paper.  It  is 
where  you  say,  the  undersigned  are  unable  to  agree 
with  you  in  the  opinion  you  have  expressed  that  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  295 

Constitution  is  different  in  time  of  insurrection  or 
invasion  from  what  it  is  in  the  time  of  peace  and 
public  security. 

A  recurrence  to  the  paper  will  show  you  that  T  have 
not  expressed  the  opinion  you  suppose. 

I  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  Constitution  is 
different  in  its  application  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  in- 
vasion, involving  the  public  safety,  from  what  it  is  in 
times  of  profound  peace  and  public  security  ;  and  this 
opinion  I  adhere  to,  simply  because  by  the  Consti- 
tution itself  things  may  be  done  in  the  one  case  which 
may  not  be  done  in  the  other. 

I  dislike  to  waste  a  word  on  a  merely  personal  point, 
but  I  must  respectfully  assure  you  that  you  will  find 
yourselves  at  fault  should  you  ever  seek  for  evidence 
to  prove  your  assumption  that  I  "opposed  in  discus- 
sions before  the  people  the  policy  of  the  Mexican  war." 

You  say:  "Expunge  from  the  Constitution  this 
limitation  upon  the  power  of  Congress  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  yet  the  other  guarantees 
of  personal  liberty  would  remain  unchanged."  Doubt- 
less if  this  clause  of  the  Constitution,  improperly 
called,  as  I  think,  a  limitation  upon  the  power  of  Con- 
gress,  were  expunged,  the  other  guarantees  would  re- 
main the  same;  but  the  question  is,  not  how  those 
guarantees  would  stand  with  that  clause  out  of  the 
Constitution,  but  how  they  stand  with  that  clause  re- 
maining in  it,  in  case  of  rebellion  or  invasion,  involv- 
ing the  public  safety.  If  the  liberty  could  be  indulged 
in  expunging  that  clause,  letter  and  spirit,  I  really 
think  the  constitutional  argument  would  be  with  you. 
My  general  view  on  this  question  was  stated  in  the 


296  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Albany  response,  and  hence  I  do  not  state  it  now.     I 
only  add  that,  as  seems  to  me,  the  benefit  of  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  is  the  great  means  through  which 
the  guarantees  of  personal  liberty  are  conserved  and 
made  available  in  the  last  resort ;  and  corroborative 
of  this  view  is  the  fact  that  Mr.  Yallandigham,  in  the~ 
very  case  in  question,  under  the  advice  of  able  lawyers, 
saw  not  where  else  to  go  but  to  the  habeas  corpus. 
But  by  the  Constitution  the  benefits  of  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  itself,  may  be  suspended,  when,  in  case 
of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it. 
You  ask,  in  substance,  whether  I  really  claim  that 
I  may  override  all  the  guaranteed  rights  of  individuals, 
on  the  plea  of  conserving  the  public  safety — when  I 
may  choose  to  say  the  public  safety  requires  it.     This 
question,  divested  of  the  phraseology  calculated  to  re- 
present me  as  struggling  for  an    arbitrary   personal 
prerogative,    is   either   simply   a   question  who  shall 
decide,  or  an    affirmation  that    nobody   shall  decide, 
what  the  public  safety  does  require  in  cases  of  rebell- 
ion or  invasion.     The  Constitution  contemplates  the 
question  as  likely  to  occur  for  decision,  but  it  does 
not  expressly  declare  who  is  to  decide  it.     By  neces- 
sary implication,  when  rebellion  or  invasion    comes, 
the  decision  is  to  be  made,  from  time  to  time,  and  I 
think  the  man  whom,  for  the  time,  the  people  have 
under  the  Constitution,  made  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the   army   and   navy,    is  the  man  who  holds  the 
power  and  bears  the  responsibility  of  making  it.     If 
he  uses  the  power  justly,  the  same  people  will  prob- 
ably justify  him  ;  if  he  abuses  it,  he  is  in  their  hands, 
to  be  dealt  with  by  all  the  modes  they  have  reserved 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S  297 

to  themselves  in  the  Constitution.  The  earnestness 
with  which  vmi  insist  that  persons  can  Only,  in  times 
of  rebellion,  be  lawfully  dealt  with,  in  accordance  with 
the  rules  for  criminal  trials  and  punishments  in  times 
of  peace,  induces  me  to  add  a  word  to  what  I  said  on 
that  point  in  the  Albany  response.  You  claim  that 
men  may,  if  they  choose,  embarrass  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  combat  a  giant  rebellion,  and  then  be  dealt 
with  only  in  turn  as  if  there  were  no  rebellion.  The 
Constitution  itself  rejects  this  view. 

The  military  arrests  and  detentions  which  have 
been  made,  including  those  of  Mr.  Vallandigham, 
which  are  not  different  in  principle  from  the  other, 
have  been  for  prevention,  and  not  for  punishment — as 
injunctions  to  stay  injury,  as  proceedings  to  keep  the 
peace — and  hence  like  proceedings  in  such  cases  and 
for  like  reasons,  they  have  not  been  accompanied 
with  indictments,  or  trials  by  juries,  nor  in  a  sin- 
gle case  by  any  punishment  whatever  beyond  what 
is  purely  incidental  to  the  prevention.  The  original 
sentence  of  imprisonment  in  Mi*.  Vallandigham's 
case  was  to  prevent  injury  to  the  military  service 
only,  and  th*1  modification  of  it  was  made  as  a  less 
disagreeable  mode  to  him  of  securing  the  same  pre- 
vention. I  am  unable  to  perceive  an  insult  to  Ohio 
in  the  case  of  Mr.  Vallandigham.  Quite  surely  noth- 
ing of  this  sort  was  or  is  intended.  I  was  wholly  un- 
aware that  Mr.  Vallandigham  was,  at  the  time  of  his 
arrest,  a  candidate  for  the  Democratic  nomination 
for  governor,  until  so  informed  bv  your  reading:  to 
me  the  resolutions  of  the  convention.  I  am  grateful 
to  the  State  of  Ohio  for  many  things,  especially  for 


298  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

the  brave  soldiers  and  officers  she  lias  given  in  the 
present  national  trial  to  the  armies  of  the  Union. 
You  claim,  as  I  understand,  that,  according  to  my 
position  in  the  Albany  response,  Mr.  Vallandigham 
should  be  released,  and  this  because,  as  you  claim,  he 
has  not  damaged  the  military  service  by  discourag- 
ing enlistments,  encouraging  desertions,  or  otherwise, 
and  that  if  he  had  he  should  be  turned  over  to  the 
civil  authorities  under  the  recent  acts  of  Congress.  I 
certainly  do  not  know  that  Mr.  Vallandigham  has 
specifically  and  by  direct  language  advised  against 
enlistments  and  in  favor  of  desertion  and  resistance 
to  drafting.  We  all  know  that  combinations,  armed 
in  some  instances  to  resist  the  arrest  of  deserters, 
began  several  months  ago,  that  more  recently  the 
like  has  appeared  in  resistance  to  the  enrollment 
preparatory  to  a  draft,  and  that  quite  a  number  of 
assassinations  have  occurred  from  the  same  animus. 
These  had  to  be  met  by  military  force,  and  this  again 
has  led  to  bloodshed  and  death.  And  now,  under 
the  sense  of  responsibility  more  weighty  and  endur- 
ing than  any  which  is  merely  official,  I  solemnly  de- 
clare my  belief  that  this  hindrance  of  the  military, 
including  maiming  and  murder,  is  due  to  the  course 
in  which  Mr.  Vallandigham  has  been  engaged,  in  a 
greater  degree  than  to  any  other  cause,  and  it  is 
due  to  him  personally  in  a  greater  degree  than  to 
any  other  man. 

These  things  have  been  notorious,  known  to  all, 
and  of  course  known  to  Mr.  Vallandigham.  Perhaps 
I  would  not  be  wrong  to  say  they  originated  with  his 
especial  friends  and  adherents.     With  perfect  knowl- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  299 

edge  of  them  lie  lias  frequently,  if  not  constantly, 
made  speeches  in  Congress  and  before  popular  as- 
semblies; and  if  it  can  be  shown  that,  with  these 
things  staring  him  in  the  face,  he  has  ever  uttered  a 
word  of  rebuke  or  counsel  against  them,  it  will  be 
a  fact  greatly  in  his  favor  with  me,  and  one  of  which, 
as  yet,  I  am  totally  ignorant. 

When  it  is  known  that  the  whole  burden  of  his 
speeches  has  been  to  stir  up  men  against  the  prose- 
cution of  the  war,  and  that  in  the  midst  of  resist- 
ance to  it  he  has  not  been  known  in  any  instance  to 
counsel  against  such  resistance,  it  is  next  to  impos- 
sible to  repel  the  inference  that  he  has  counseled 
directly  in  favor  of  it.  With  all  this  before  their 
eyes,  the  convention  you  represent  have  nominated 
Mr.  Yallandigham  forgovernor  of  Ohio,  and  both  they 
and  you  have  declared  the  purpose  to  sustain  the  Na- 
tional Union  by  all  constitutional  means.  But,  of 
course,  they  and  you,  in  common,  reserve  to  yourselves 
to  decide  what  are  constitutional  means,  and,  unlike 
the  Albany  meeting,  you  omit  to  state  or  intimate  that, 
in  your  opinion,  an  army  is  a  constitutional  means 
of  saving  the  Union  against  a  rebellion,  or  even  to 
intimate  that  you  are  conscious  of  an  existing  re- 
bellion being  in  progress  with  the  avowed  object  of 
destroying  that  very  Union. 

At  the  same  time,  your  nominee  for  governor,  in 
whose  behalf  you  appeal,  is  known  to  you  and  to  the 
world  to  declare  against  the  use  of  an  army  to  sup- 
press the  rebellion.  Your  own  attitude,  therefore, 
encourages  desertion,  resistance  to  the  draft,  and  the 
like,  because  it  teaches  those  who  incline  to  desert 


300  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN^ 

and  to  escape  the  draft  to  believe  it  is  your  purpose 
to  protect  them  and  to  hope  that  you  will  become 
strong  enough  to  do  so.  After  a  short  personal  in- 
tercourse with  you,  gentlemen  of  the  committee,  I 
can  not  say  I  think  you  desire  this  effect  to  follow 
your  attitude,  but  I  assure  you  that  both  friends 
and  enemies  of  the  Union  look  upon  it  in  this 
light.  It  is  a  substantial  hope,  and  by  consequence 
a  real  strength  to  the  enemy.  It  is  a  false  hope, 
and  one  which  you  would  willingly  dispel.  I  will 
make  the  way  exceedingly  easy.  I  send  you  duplicates 
of  this  letter,  in  order  that  you,  or  a  majority,  may, 
if  you  choose,  indorse  your  names  upon  one  of  them 
and  return  it  thus  indorsed  to  me,  with  the  under- 
standing that  those  signing  are  hereby  committed  to 
the  following  propositions,  and  to  nothing  else  : 

1.  That  there  is  now  a  rebellion  in  the  United 
States,  the  object  and  tendency  of  which  is  to  destroy 
the  national  Union,  and  that  in  your  opinion  an  army 
and  navy  are  constitutional  means  for  suppressing 
that  rebellion.  2.  That  no  one  of  you  will  do  any 
thing  which  in  his  own  judgment  will  tend  to  hinder 
the  increase  or  favor  the  decrease  or  lessen  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  army  and  navy,  while  engaged  in  the  ef- 
fort to  suppress  that  rebellion ;  and,  3.  That  each  of 
you  will,  in  his  sphere,  do  all  he  can  to  have  the  offi- 
cers, soldiers,  and  seamen  of  the  army  and  navy,  while 
engaged  in  the  effort  to  suppress  the  rebellion,  paid,  fed, 
clad,  and  otherwise  well  provided  for  and  supported. 
And  with  the  further  understanding  that  upon 
receiving  the  letter  and  names  thus  indorsed,  I  will 
cause  them  to  be  published,  which  publication  shall 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  301 

be  within  itself  a  revocation  of  the  order  in   relation 
to  Mr.  Vallandigham. 

It  will  not  escape  observation  that  I  consent  to  the 
release  of  Mr.  Vallandigham  upon  terms  not  embrac- 
ing any  pledge  from  him  or  from  others  as  to  wbat 
he  will  or  will  not  do.  I  do  this  because  he  is  not 
present  to  speak  for  himself,  or  to  authorize  others  to 
speak  for  him";  and  hence  I  shall  expect  that  on  re- 
turning he  would  not  put  himself  practically  in  an- 
tagonism with  his  friends.  But  I  do  it  chiefly  be- 
cause I  thereby  prevail  on  other  influential  gentle- 
men of  Ohio  to  so  define  their  position  as  to  he  of  im- 
mense value  to  the  army — thus  more  than  compensat- 
ing for  the  consequence  of  any  mistake  in  allowing 
Mr.  Vallandigham  to  return,  so  that,  on  the  whole, 
the  public  safety  will  not  have  suffered  by  it.  Still, 
iu  regard  to  Mr.  Vallandigham  and  all  others,  I  must 
hereafter,  as  heretofore,  do  so  much  as  the  public 
service  may  seem  to  require. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully  yours,  etc., 

A.  Lincoln. 
War  Bulletin — Official. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  July  31,  1863. 
It  is  the  duty  of  every  government  to  give  protec- 
tion to  the  citizens,  of  whatever  class,  color,  or  con- 
dition, and  especially  to  those  who  are  duly  organized 
as  soldiers  in  the  public  service.  The  law  of  nations, 
and  the  usages  and  customs  of  war,  as  carried  on  by 
civilized  powers,  permit  no  distinction  as  to  color  in 
the  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  or  public  enemies. 
To  sell  or  enslave  any  captured  person,  on  account  oi 
his  color,  and  for  no  offense  against  the  laws  of  war; 


302  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

is  a  relapse  into  barbarism,  and  a  crime  against  the 
civilization  of  the  age. 

The  government  of  the  United  States  will  give  the 
same  protection  to  all  its  soldiers,  and  if  the  enemy 
shall  sell  or  enslave  any  one  because  of  his  color,  the 
offense  shall  be  punished  by  retaliation  upon  the  en- 
emy's prisoners  in  our  possession.  It  is  therefore  or- 
dered that  for  every  soldier  of  the  United  States 
killed  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  a  rebel  soldier 
shall  be  executed,  and  for  every  one  enslaved  by  the 
enemy  or  sold  into  slavery,  a  rebel  soldier  shall  be 
placed  at  hard  labor  on  the  public  works,  and  con- 
tinued at  such  labor  until  the  other  shall  be  released, 
and  receive  the  treatment  due  to  a  prisoner  of  war. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  Banks,  August  5,  1863. 
My  Dear  General  Banks: — While  I  very  well  know 
what  I  would  be  glad  for  Louisiana  to  do,  it  is  quite 
a  different  thing  for  me  to  assume  direction  of  the 
matter.  I  would  be  glad  for  her  to  make  a  new  Con- 
stitution, recognizing  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, and  adopting  emancipation  in  those  parts  of  the 
state  to  which  the  proclamation  does  not  apply.  And 
while  she  is  at  it,  I  think  it  would  not  be  objection- 
able for  her  to  adopt  some  practical  system  by  which 
the  two  races  could  gradually  live  themselves  out  of 
their  old  relations  to  each  other,  and  both  come  out 
better  prepared  for  the  new.  Education  for  young 
blacks  should  be  included  in  the  plan.  After  all,  the 
power  of  element  of  "  contract  "  maybe  sufficient  for 
this  probationary  period,  and  by  its   simplicity  and 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  303 

flexibility  may  be  better.  As  an  anti-slavery  man,  I 
have  a  motive  to  desire  emancipation  which  pro- 
slavery  men  do  not  have;  but  even  they  have  strong 
enough  reason  to  thus  place  themselves  again  under 
the  shield  of  the  Union,  and  to  thus  perpetually 
pledge  against  the  recurrenee  of  the  scenes  through 
which  we  are  now  passing.  Governor  Shepley  has 
informed  me  that  Mr.  Durant  is  now  taking  a  regis- 
try, with  a  view  to  the  election  of  a  constitutional 
convention  in  Louisiana.  Tins,  to  me,  appears 
proper.  If  such  convention  were  to  ask  my  views,  I 
eould  present  little  else  than  what  I  now  say  to  you. 
I  think  the  thing  should  be  pushed  forward  so  that, 
if  possible,  its  mature  work  may  reaeh  here  by  the 
meeting  of  Congress.  For  my  own  part,  I  think  I 
shall  not,  in  any  event,  retract  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation ;  nor,  as  Executive,  ever  return  to 
slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that 
proclamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress.  If 
Louisiana  shall  send  members  to  Congress,  their  ad- 
mission to  seats  will  depend,  as  you  know,  upon  the 
respective  houses,  and  not  upon  the  President. 

Yours,  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  His  Excellency,  Horatio  Seymour,  Governor  of 

New  York. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  August  7,  186-3. 

Your  communication  of  the  third  instant  has  heen 
received  and  attentively  considered. 

I  can  not  consent  to  suspend  the  draft  in  New  York, 
as  you  request,  because,  among  other  reasons,  time  is 
importaut.     By  the  figures  you  send,  which  I  presume 


304  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

are  correct,  the  twelve  districts  represented  fall  in  two 
classes  of  eight  and  four  respectively.  The  disparity 
of  the  quotas  for  the  draft  in  these  two  classes  is  cer- 
tainly very  striking,  being  the  difference  between 
the  average  of  2,200  in  one  class,  and  4,864  in  the 
other. 

Assuming  that  the  districts  are  equal,  one  to  an- 
other, an  entire  population,  as  required  by  the  plan 
on  which  they  were  made,  this  disparity  is  such  as  to 
require  attention.  Much  of  it,  however,  I  suppose 
will  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  so  many  more 
persons  tit  for  soldiers  are  in  the  city  than  are  in  the 
country,  who  have  too  recently  arrived  from  other 
parts  of  the  United  States  and  from  Europe  to  be 
either  included  in  the  census  of  1860,  or  to  have 
voted  in  1862.  Still,  making  due  allowance  for  this, 
I  am  yet  unwilling  to  stand  upon  it  as  an  entirely  suf- 
ficient explanation  of  the  great  disparity. 

I  shall  direct  the  draft  to  proceed  in  all  the  districts, 
drawing,  however,  at  first  from  each  of  the  four  dis- 
tricts, to  wit :  the  second,  fourth,  sixth,  and  eighth — 
only  2,200  being  the  average  quota  of  the  other  class. 
After  the  drawing,  these  four  districts,  and  also  the 
seventeenth  and  twenty-ninth,  shall  he  carefully  re- 
enrolled;  and,  if  you  please,  agents  of  yours  may 
witness  every  step  of  the  process. 

Any  deficiency  which  may  appear  by  the  new  en- 
rollment will  be  supplied  by  special  draft  for  that 
object,  allowing  due  credit  for  volunteers  who  may 
be  obtained  from  these  districts  respectively  during 
the  interval ;  and  at  all  points,  so  far  as  consistent 
with  practical  convenience,  due  credit  shall  be  given 


I 

PEN    AND    VOICE.  305 

for  volunteers,  and  your  Excellency  shall  be  notified 
of  the  time  fixed  for  commencing  a  draft  in  each  dis- 
trict. A.  Lincoln. 

Lettkr  to  General  Grant,  August  9,  1863. 

General  Thomas  has  gone  again  to  the  Mississippi 
valley,  with  the  view  of  raising  colored  troops.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  you  are  doing  what  you  reason- 
ably can  upon  the  same  subject.  I  believe  it  a  re- 
source which,  if  rigorously  applied  now,  will  soon 
close  this  contest.  It  works  doubly,  weakening  the 
enemy  and  strengthening  us.  v\Te  were  not  fully  ripe 
for  it  until  the  river  was  opened.  Now,  I  think,  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  can,  and  ought  to  be, 
organized  along  its  shores,  relieving  all  the  white 
troops  to  serve  elsewhere. 

Mr.  Davis  understands  you  as  believing  that  the 
emancipation  proclamation  has  helped  some  of  your 
military  operations,  and  I  am  very  glad  if  this  is  so. 

A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  the  Illinois  Convention. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Aug.  26,  1863. 
Hon.  James  C.  Conkling:  My  Dear  Sir — Your  let- 
ter inviting  me  to  attend  a  mass  meeting  of  uncon- 
ditional Union  men,  to  be  held  at  the  capital  of 
Illinois,  on  the  3d  day  of  September,  has  been  re- 
ceived. It  would  be  very  agreeable  for  me  thus  to 
meet  my  old  friends  at  my  own  home,  but  I  can  not 
just  now  be  absent  from  here  as  long  as  a  visit  there 
would  require. 

The  meeting  is  to  be  of  all  those  who  maintain  un- 
26 


306  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

conditional  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  I  am  sure  my 
old  political  friends  will  thank  me  for  tendering,  as  I 
do,  the  nation's  gratitude  to  those  other  noble  men 
whom  no  partisan  malice  or  partisan  hope  can  make 
false  to  the  nation's  life. 

There  are  those  who  are  dissatisfied  with  me.  To 
such  I  would  say,  you  desire  peace,  and  you  blame 
me  that  we  do  not  have  it.  But  how  can  we  attain 
it?  There  are  but  three  conceivable  ways  :  First,  to 
suppress  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms.  This  I  am 
trying  to  do.  Are  you  for  it?  If  you  are,  so  far  we 
are  agreed.  If  you  are  not  for  it,  a  second  way,  is  to 
give  up  the  Union.  I  am  against  this.  Are  you  for 
it?  If  you  are,  you  should  say  so  plainly.  If  you 
are  not  for  force,  nor  yet  for  dissolution,  there  only  re- 
mains some  imaginable  compromise. 

I  do  not  believe  that  any  compromise  embracing 
the  maintenance  of  the  Union  is  now  possible.  All 
that  I  learn  leads  to  a  directly  opposite  belief.  The 
strength  of  the  rebellion  is  its  military,  its  army. 
That  army  dominates  all  the  country  and  all  the  peo- 
ple within  its  range.  Any  offer  of  terms  made  by 
any  man  or  men  within  that  range,  in  opposition  to 
that  army,  is  simply  nothing  for  the  present;  because 
such  man  or  men  have  no  power  whatever  to  enforce 
their  side  of  a  compromise,  if  one  were  made  with 
them. 

To  illustrate  :  Suppose  refugees  from  the  South  and 
peace  men  of  the-Korth  get  together  in  convention, 
and  frame  and  proclaim  a  compromise  embracing  a 
restoration  of  the  Union.  In  what  way  can  that 
compromise  be  used  to  keep  Lee's  army  out  of  Peun- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  307 

sylvania?  Meade's  army  can  keep  Lee's  army  out 
of  Pennsylvania,  and,  I  think,  can  ultimately  drive  it 
out  of  existence.  But  no  paper  compromise  to  which 
the  controllers  of  Lee's  army  are  not  agreed  can  at 
all  affect  that  army.  In  an  effort  at  such  compromise 
we  would  waste  time,  which  the  enemy  would  im- 
prove to  our  disadvantage,  and  that  would  he  all. 

A  compromise,  to  he  effective,  must  be  made  either 
with  those  who  control  the  rebel  army,  or  with  the 
people,  first  liberated  from  the  domination  of  that 
army  by  the  success  of  our  own  army.  Now,  allow 
me  to  assure  you  that  no  word  or  intimation  from 
that  rebel  army,  or  from  any  of  the  men  controlling 
it,  in  relation  to  any  peace  compromise,  has  ever  come 
to  my  knowledge  or  belief.  All  charges  and  insinu- 
ations to  the  contrary  are  deceptive  and  groundless. 
And  I  promise  you  that  if  any  such  proposition  shall 
hereafter  come,  it  shall  not  be  rejected  and  kept  a 
secret  from  you.  I  freely  acknowledge  myself  to  be 
the  servant  of  the  people,  according  to  the  bond  of 
service,  the  United  States  Constitution;  and  that,  as 
such,  I  am  responsible  to  them.  But,  to  be  plain, 
von  are  dissatisfied  with  me  about  the  negro.  Quite 
likely  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  between  you 
and  myself  upon  that  subject.  I  certainly  wish  that 
all  men  could  he  free,  while  you,  I  suppose,  do  not. 
Yet  I  have  neither  adopted  nor  proposed  any  meas- 
ure which  is  not  consistent  with  even  your  views, 
provided  that  you  are  for  the  Union.  I  suggested 
compensated  emancipation,  to  which  you  replied  you 
wished  not  to  be  taxed  to  huv  negroes.  But  I  had 
not  asked  you  to  be  taxed  to  buy  negroes,  except  in 


308  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

such  a  way  as  to  save  you  from  greater  taxation  to 
Have  the  Union  exclusively  by  other  means. 

You  dislike  the  emancipation  proclamation,  and 
perhaps  would  have  it  retracted.  You  'say  it  is  un- 
constitutional. I  think  differently.  I  think  the 
Constitution  invests  its  commander-in-chief  with  the 
law  of  war  in  time  of  war.  The  most  that  can  be 
said  if  so  much,  is,  that  slaves  are  property.  Ts 
there,  has  there  ever  been,  any  question  that  by  the 
law  of  war.  property,  both  of  enemies  and  friends, 
may  be  taken  when  needed?  And  is  it  not  needed 
whenever  it  helps  us  and  hurts  the  enemy?  Armies, 
the  world  over,  destroy  enemies'  property  when  they 
can  not  use  it,  and  even  destroy  their  own  to  keep  it 
from  the  enemy 

Civilized  belligerents  do  all  in  their  power  to  help 
themselves,  or  hurt  the  enemy,  except  a  few  things 
regarded  as  barbarous  or  cruel.  Among  the  excep- 
tions are  the  massacre  of  vanquished  foes  and  non- 
combatants,  male  and  female. 

But  the  proclamation,  as  law,  either  is  valid  or  is  not 
valid.  If  it  is  not  valid  it  needs  no  retraction.  If  it 
is  valid,  it  can  not  be  retracted,  any  more  than  the 
dead  can  be  brought  to  life.  Some  of  you  profess  to 
think  its  retraction  would  operate  favorably  for  the 
Union.  Why  better  after  the  retraction  than  before 
the  issue?  There  was  more  than  a  year  and  a  half 
of  trial  to  suppress  the  rebellion  before  the  proclama- 
tion was  issued,  the  last  one  hundred  days  of  which 
passed  under  an  explicit  notice  that  it  was  coming, 
unless  averted  by  those  in  revolt  returning  to  their 
allegiance.     The  war  has  certainly  progressed  as  fa- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  309 

vorably  for  us  since  the  issue  of  the  proclamation  as 
before.  I  know  as  fully  as  one  can  know  the  opinion 
of  others  that  some  of  the  commanders  of  our  armies 
in  the  held,  who  have  given  us  our  most  important 
victories,  believe  the  emancipation  policy  and  the  use 
of  colored  troops  constitute  the  heaviest  blows  yet 
dealt  to  the  rebellion,  and  that  at  least  one  of  those 
important  successes  could  not  have  been  achieved 
when  it  was  but  for  the  aid  of  black  soldiers. 

Among  the  commanders  who  hold  these  views  are 
some  who  have  never  had  an  affinity  with  what  is 
called  "abolitionism,"  or  with  "Republican  party 
politics,"  but  who  held  them  purely  as  military  opin- 
ions. I  submit  their  opinions  as  entitled  to  some 
weight  against  the  objections  often  urged  that  eman- 
cipation and  arming  the  blacks  are  unwise  as  mili- 
tary measures,  and  were  not  adopted  as  such  in  good 
faith. 

You  say  that  you  will  not  tight  to  free  negroes. 
Some  of  them  seem  willing  to  fight  for  }7ou  ;  but  no 
matter.  Fight  you  then,  exclusively  to  save  the 
Union.  I  issued  the  proclamation  on  purpose  to  aid 
you  in  saving  the  Union.  Whenever  you  shall  have 
conquered  all  resistance  to  the  Union,  if  I  shall  urge 
you  to  continue  lighting,  it  will  be  an  apt  time  then 
for  you  to  declare  you  will  not  fight  to  free  negroes. 
I  thought  that,  in  your  struggle  for  the  Union,  to 
whatever  extent  the  negroes  should  cease  helping 
the  enemy,  to  that  extent  it  weakened  the  enemy  in 
his  resistance  to  you.     Do  you  think  differently? 

I  thought  that  whatever  negroes  can  be  got  to  do 
as  soldiers,  leaves  just  so  much  less  for  white  soldiers 


BIO  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

to  Jo  in  saving  the  Union.  Does  it  appear  otherwise 
to  you?  But  negroes,  like  other  people,  act  upon 
motives.  Why  should  they  do  any  thing  for  us,  if  we 
will  do  nothing  for  them?  If  they  stake  their  lives 
for  us,  they  must  be  prompted  by  the  strongest  mo- 
tive, even  the  promise  of  freedom.  And  the  promise 
being  made,  must  be  kept.  The  signs  look  better. 
The  Father  of  Waters  again  °;oes  unvexed  to  the  sea. 
Thanks  to  the  great  north-west  for  it ;  nor  yet  wholly 
to  them.  Three  hundred  miles  up  they  met  New 
England,  Empire,  Keystone  and  Jersey,  hewing  their 
way  right  and  left. 

The  sunny  South,  too,  in  more  colors  than  one,  also 
lent  a  helping  hand.  On  the  spot  their  part  of  the 
history  was  jotted  down  in  black  and  white.  The  job 
was  a  great  national  one,  and  let  none  be  slighted 
who  bore  an  honorable  part  in  it.  And  while  those 
who  have  cleared  the  great  river  may  well  be  proud, 
even  that  is  not  all.  It  is  hard  to  say  that  any  thing 
has  been  more  bravely  or  well  done  than  at  Antietam, 
Murfreesboro,  Gettysburg,  and  on  many  fields  of  less 
note.  Nor  must  Uncle  Sam's  web-feet  be  forgotten. 
At  all  the  watery  margins  they  have  been  present,  not 
only  on  the  deep  sea,  the  broad  bay,  and  the  rapid 
river,  but  also  up  the  narrow  muddy  bayou,  and 
wherever  the  ground  was  a  little  damp,  they  have 
been  and  made  their  tracks.  Thanks  to  all.  For  the 
great  republic — for  the  principle  it  lives  by  and  keeps 
alive — for  man's  vast  future — thanks  to  all. 

Peace  does  not  appear  so  distant  as  it  did.  I  hope 
it  will  come  soon,  and  come  to  stay,  and  so  come  as 
to  be  worth  the  keeping  in  all  future  time.     It  will 


pen  AND   VOICE.  311 

then  have  been  proved  that  among  free  men,  there 
can  be  no  successful  appeal  from  the  ballot  to  the  bul- 
let, and  that  they  who  take  snch  appeal  are  sure  to 
lose  their  case  and  pay  the  cost.  And  there  will  be 
some  black  men  who  can  remember  that  with  silent 
tongue,  and  clinched  teeth,  and  steady  eye,  and  well 
poised  bayonet,  they  have  helped  mankind  on  to  this 
great  consummation;  while  I  fear  there  will  be  some 
white  men  unable  to  forget  that  with  malignant  and 
deceitful  speech  they  have  striven  to  hinder  it. 

Still,  let  us  not  be  over-sanguine  of  a  speedy    final 
triumph.     Let  us  be  quite  sober.     Let  us  diligently 
apply  the  means,  never  doubting  that  a  just  God,  in 
his  own  good  time,  will  give  us  the  rightful  result. 
Y<mrs  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Instructions  to  General  Schofield. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Oct.  1,  18G3. 

General  John  31.  Schofield: — There  is  no  organized 
military  force  in  avowed  opposition  to  the  general 
government  now  in  Missouri,  and  if  any  shall  reap- 
pear, your  duty  in  regard  to  it  will  be  too  plain  to  re- 
quire any  special  instruction.  Still,  the  condition  of 
things,  both  there  and  elsewhere,  is  such  as  to  render 
it  indispensable  to  maintain,  for  a  time,  the  United 
States  military  establishment  in  that  state,  as  well  as 
to  rely  upon  it  for  a  fair  contribution  of  support  to 
that  establishment  generally.  Your  immediate  duty 
in  regard  to  Missouri  now  is  to  advance  the  efficiency 
of  that  establishment,  and  to  use  it,  as  far  as  practicable 
to  compel  the  excited  people  there  to  let  one  another 
alone. 

Under  your  recent  order,  which  1  have  approved, 


312  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

you  will  only  arrest  individuals,  and  suppress  assem- 
blies or  newspapers,  when  they  may  be  working  pal- 
pable injury  to  the  military  in  your  charge  ;  and  in  no 
other  case  will  you  interfere  with  the  expression  of 
opinion  in  any  form,  or  allow  it  to  be  interfered  with 
violently  by  others.  In  this  you  have  a  discretion  to 
exercise  with  great  caution,  calmness  and  forbearance. 

With  the  matter  of  removing  the  inhabitants  of 
certain  counties  en  masse,  and  of  removing  certain  in- 
dividuals from  time  to  time,  who  are  supposed  to  be 
mischievous,  I  am  not  now  interfering,  but  am  leav- 
ing to  your  own  discretion. 

Nor  am  I  interfering  with  what  may  still  seem  to 
you  to  be  necessary  restrictions  upon  trade  and  inter- 
course. I  think  proper,  however,  to  enjoin  upon  you 
the  following:  Allow  no  part  of  the  military  under 
your  command  to  be  engaged  in  either  returning  fueri- 
tive  slaves,  or  in  forcing  or  enticing  slaves  from  their 
homes ;  and,  as  far  as  practicable,  enforce  the  same 
forbearance  upon  the  people. 

Report  to  me  your  opinion  upon  the  availability  for 
good  of  the  enrolled  militia  of  the  state.  Allow7  no 
one  to  enlist  colored  troops,  except  upon  orders  from 
you,  or  from  here  through  you. 

Allow  no  one  to  assume  the  functions  of  confiscat- 
ing property,  under  the  law  of  Congress,  or  other- 
wise, except  upon  orders  from  here. 

At  elections  see  that  those,  and  only  those,  are  al- 
lowed to  vote,  who  are  entitled  to  do  so  by  the  laws 
of  Missouri,  including  as  of  those  laws  the  restrictions 
laid  by  the  Missouri  convention  upon  those  who  may 
have  participated  in  the  rebellion. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  313 

So  far  as  practicable,  you  will,  by  means  of  your 
military  force,  expel  guerrillas,  marauders  and  mur- 
derers, and  all  who  are  known  to  harbor,  aid,  or  abet 
them.  But  in  like  manner  you  will  repress  assump- 
tions of  unauthorized  individuals  to  perform  the  same 
service,  because  under  pretense  of  doing  this  they  be- 
come marauders  and  murderers  themselves. 

To  now  restore  peace,  let  the  military  obey  orders; 
and  those  not  of  the  military  leave  each  other  alone, 
thus  not  breaking  the  peace  themselves. 

In  a-ivinii-  the  above  directions,  it  is  not  intended  to 
restrain  you  in  other  expedient  and  necessary  matters 
not  falling  within  their  range. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

Proclamation,  October  3,  1863. 

The  year  that  is  drawing  toward  its  close  has  been 
tilled  with  the  blessings  of  fruitful  fields  and  healthful 
skies. 

To  these  bounties,  which  are  so  constantly  enjoyed 
that  we  are  prone  to  forget  the  source  from  which 
they  come,  others  have  been  added  which  are  of  so 
extraordinary  a  nature  that  they  can  not  fail  to  pen- 
etrate and  soften  even  the  heart  which  is  habitually 
insensible  to  the  ever  watchful  Providence  of  Al- 
mighty God. 

In  the  midst  of  a  civil  war  of  unparalleled  magnitude 
and  severitv,  which  has  sometimes  seemed  to  invite 
and  provoke  the  aggressions  of  foreign  states,  peace 
has  been  preserved  with  all  nations,  order  has  been 
maintained,  the  laws  have  been  respected  and  obeyed, 
27 


314  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

and  harmony  has  prevailed  every- where  except  in  the 
theater  of  military  conflict,  while  that  theater  has 
been  greatly  contracting  by  the  advancing  armies  and 
navies  of  the  Union. 

The  needful  diversion  of  wealth  and  strength  from 
the  fields  of  peaceful  industry  to  the  national  defense, 
has  not  arrested  the  plow,  the  shuttle,  or  the  ship. 

The  ax  has  enlarged  the  borders  of  our  settlements, 
and  the  mines,  as  well  of  iron  and  coal  as  of  the 
precious  metals,  have  yielded  even  more  abundantly 
than  heretofore.  Population  has  steadily  increased, 
notwithstanding  the  waste  that  has  been  made  in  the 
camp,  the  seige,  and  the  battle  field  ;  and  the  country, 
rejoicing  in  the  consciousness  of  augmented  strength 
and  vigor,  is  permitted  to  expect  a  continuance  of 
years,  with  large  increase  of  freedom. 

No  human  council  hath  devised,  nor  hath  any  mor- 
tal hand  worked  out  these  great  things.  They  are 
the  gracious  gifts  of  the  most  High  God,  who,  while 
dealing  with  us  in  anger  for  our  sins,  hath  neverthe- 
less remembered  mercy. 

It  has  seemed  to  me  fit  and  proper  that  they  should 
be  solemnly,  reverently,  and  gratefully  acknowledged, 
as  with  one  heart  and  voice,  by  the  whole  American 
people.  I  do,  therefore,  invite  my  fellow-citizens  in 
every  part  of  the  United  States,  and  also  those  who 
are  at  sea,  and  those  who  are  sojourning  in  foreign 
lands,  to  set  apart  and  observe  the  last  Thursday  of 
November  next  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  prayer 
to  our  beneficent  Father,  who  dwelleth  in  the  heavens ; 
and  I  recommend  to  them  that  while  offering  up  the 
ascriptions  justly  due  to  Him,  for  such  singular  deliv- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  S15 

erances  and  blessings,  they  do  also,  with  humble 
penitence  for  our  national  perverseness  and  disobedi- 
ence, commend  to  His  tender  care  all  those  who  have 
become  widows,  orphans,  mourners,  or  sufferers  in  the 
lamentable  civil  strife  in  which  we  arc  unavoidably 
engaged,  and  fervently  implore  the  interposition  of 
the  Almighty  hand  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  nation, 
and  to  restore  it,  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent  with 
the  Divine  purposes,  to  the  lull  enjoyment  of  peace, 
harmony,  tranquillity,  and  union. 

In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand, 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Bone  at  the  City  of  Washington,  this  third  day  of 
October,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-threee,  and  of  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  the  eighty-eighth.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  General  Rosecrans. 

October  4,  18(33. 
Yours  of  yesterday  received.  If  we  can  hold 
Chattanooga  and  East  Tennessee,  I  think  the  re- 
bellion must  dwindle  and  die.  I  think  you  and 
I  in  inside  can  do  this,  and  hence  doing  so  is  vour 
main  object.  Of  course,  to  greatly  damage  or  de- 
stroy the  enemy  in  your  front  would  be  a  greater 
object,  because  it  would  include  the  former,  and 
more;  but  it  is  not  so  certainly  within  your  power. 
I  understand  the  main  body  of  the  enemy  is  very 
near  you — so  near  that  you  could  "  board  at  home," 
so  to  speak,  and  menace  or  attack  him  any  day. 
Would  not  the  doing  of  this  be  your  best  mode  of 
counteracting   his   raids  on   your   communications? 


31 G  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

But  this  is  not  an  order.  I  intend  doing  something 
like  what  you  suggest  whenever  the  ease  shall  appear 
ripe  enough  to  have  it  accepted  in  the  true  under- 
standing, rather  than  as  a  confession  of  weakness 
and  fear.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Hon.  Charles  Drake  and  Others,  Committee. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  October  5, 18G3. 

Gentlemen  : — Your  original  address,  presented  on 
the  30th  ult.,  and  the  four  supplementary  ones,  pre- 
sented on  the  3d  inst.,have  been  carefully  considered. 
I  hope  you  will  regard  the  other  duties  claiming  my 
attention,  together  with  the  great  length  and  impor- 
tance of  these  documents,  as  constituting  a  sufficient 
apology  for  my  not  having  responded  sooner. 

These  papers,  framed  for  a  common  ohject,  consist 
of  the  things  demanded,  and  the  reasons  for  demand- 
ing them.     The  things  demanded  are  : 

First — That  General  Schofield  shall  be  relieved  and 
General  Butler  be  appointed  as  commander  of  the 
Military  Department  of  Missouri  ; 

Second — That  the  system  of  enrolled  militia  in  Mis- 
souri may  he  broken  up,  and  national  forces  be  sub- 
stituted for  it ;  and, 

Third — That  at  elections  persons  may  not  be  al- 
lowed to  vote  who  are  not  entitled  by  law  to  do  so. 

Among  the  reasons  given,  enough  of  suffering  and 
wrong  to  Union  men  is  certainly,  and  I  suppose  truly, 
stated.  Yet  the  whole  case,  as  presented,  fails  to 
convince  me  that  General  Schofield,  or  the  enrolled 
militia,  is  responsible  for  that  suffering  and  wrong. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  317 

The   whole  can  be  explained  on   a   more  charitable, 

and,  as  I  think,  a  more  rational,  hypothesis. 

We  are  in  civil  war.  In  such  rases  there  always  is 
a  main  question;  but  in  this  ease  that  question  is  a 
perplexing  compound — Union  and  slavery.  It  thus 
becomes  a  question,  not  of  two  sides  merely,  but  of 
at  least  four  sides,  even  among  those  who  are  for  the 
Union,  saving  nothing  of  those  who  are  against  it. 
Thus,  those  who  are  for  the  Union  with,  but  not  with- 
out slavery;  those  for  it  without  but  not  with;  those 
for  it  with  or  without, but  prefer  it  with;  and  those  for 
it  with  or  without,  but  prefer  it  without. 

Among  these,  again,  is  a  subdivision  of  those  who 
are  for  gradual  but  not  for  immediate,  and  those  who 
arc  for  immediate  but  not  for  gradual,  extinction  of 
slavery.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  all  these  shades 
of  opinion,  and  even  more,  may  he  sincerely  enter- 
tained by  honest  and  truthful  men.  Yet,  all  being 
for  the  Union,  by  reason  of  these  differences  each 
will  prefer  a  different  way  of  sustaining  the  Union. 
At  once  sincerity  is  questioned  and  motives  are  as- 
sailed. Actual  war  coming,  blood  grows  hot  and 
blood  is  spilled.  Thought  is  forced  from  old  chan- 
nels into  confusion.  Deception  breeds  and  thrives. 
(  \  mfidence  dies,  and  universal  suspicion  reigns.  Each 
man  feels  an  impulse  to  kill  his  neighbor,  lest  he  be 
killed  by  him.  Revenge  and  retaliation  follow. 
And  all  this,  as  before  said,  may  be  among  honest 
men  only.  But  this  is  not  all.  Every  foul  bird 
comes  abroad,  and  every  dirty  reptile  rises  up.  These 
add  crime  to  confusion.  Strong  measures,  deemed 
indispensable  but  harsh  at  best,  such  men  make  worse 


318  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

by  mal-administration.  Murders  for  old  grudges  and 
murders  for  pelf  proceed  under  any  cloak  that  will 
best  serve  for  the  occasion. 

These  causes  amply  account  for  what  has  occurred 
in  Missouri,  without  ascribing  it  to  the  weakness  or 
wickedness  of  any  general.  The  newspaper  files, 
those  chroniclers  of  current  events,  will  show  that 
the  evils  now  complained  of  were  quite  as  prevalent 
under  Fremont,  Hunter,  Halleck,  and  Curtis,  as  under 
Schofield.  If  the  former  had  greater  force  opposed 
to  them,  they  also  had  greater  force  with  which  to 
meet  it.  When  the  organized  rebel  army  left  the 
state,  the  main  Federal  force  had  to  go  also,  leaving 
the  department  commander  at  home  relatively  no 
stronger  than  before.  Without  disparaging  any,  I 
affirm  with  confidence  that  no  commander  of  that 
department  has,  in  proportion  to  his  means,  done 
better  than  General  Schofield. 

The  first  specific  charge  against  General  Schofield 
is,  that  the  enrolled  militia  was  placed  under  his  com- 
mand, whereas  it  had  not  been  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Curtis.  The  fact  is,  I  believe,  true  ; 
but  you  do  not  point  out,  nor  can  I  conceive,  how 
that  did,  or  could,  injure  loyal  men  or  the  Union 
cause.  You  charge  that  General  Curtis  being  super- 
seded by  General  Schofield,  Franklin  A.  Dick  was 
superseded  by  James  0.  Brodhead  as  provost-mar- 
shal-general. IZo  very  specific  showing  is  made  as 
to  how  this  did  or  could  injure  the  Union  cause.  It 
recalls,  however,  the  condition  of  things,  as  presented 
to  me,  which  led  to  a  change  of  commander  of  that 
department. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  319 

To  restrain  contraband  intelligence  and  trade,  a 
system  of  searches,  seizures,  permits,  and  passes  bad 
been  introduced,  I  think,  by  General  Fremont. 
When  General  Ilalleek  came,  he  found  and  contin- 
ued the  system,  and  added  an  order,  applicable  to 
some  parts  of  the  state,  to  levy  and  collect  contribu- 
tions from  noted  rebels,  to  compensate  losses  and  re- 
lieve destitution  caused  by  the  rebellion.  The  action 
of  General  Fremont  and  General'  Ilalleek,  as  stated, 
contributed  a  sort  of  system  which  General  Curtis 
found  in  full  operation  when  he  took  command  of 
the  department.  That  there  was  a  necessity  for 
something  of  the  sort  was  clear ;  but  that  it  could 
only  be  justified  by  stern  necessity,  and  that  it  was 
liable  to  great  abuse  in  administration,  was  equally 
clear.  Agents  to  execute  it,  contrary  to  the  great 
prayer,  were  led  into  temptation.  Some  might, 
while  others  would  not,  resist  that  temptation.  It 
was  not  possible  to  hold  any  to  a  very  strict  account- 
ability; and  those  yielding  to  the  temptation  would 
sell  permits  and  passes  to  those  who  would  pay  most 
and  most  readily  for  them,  and  would  seize  property 
and  collect  levies  in  the  aptest  way  to  fill  their  own 
pockets.  Money  being  the  object,  the  man  having 
money,  whether  loyal  or  disloyal,  would  be  a  victim. 
This  practice  doubtless  existed  to  some  extent,  and  it 
was  a  real  additional  evil  that  it  could  be,  and  was 
plausibly  charged  to  exist  in  greater  extent  than  it 

did. 

When  General  Curtis  took  command  of  the  depart- 
ment, Mr.  Dick,  against  whom  I  never  knew  any- 
thing  to   allege,  had   general   charge  of  this   system. 


320  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

A  controversy  in  regard  to  it  rapidly  grew  into  al- 
most unmanageable  proportions.  One  side  ignored 
the  necessity,  and  magnified  the  evils  of  the  system, 
while  the  other  ignored  the  evils,  and  magnified  the 
necessity ;  and  each  bitterly  assailed  the  other.  I 
could  not  fail  to  see  that  the  controversy  enlarged  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  professed  Union  men 
there  distinctly  took  sides  in  two  opposing  political 
parties.  I  exhausted  my  wits,  and  very  nearly  my 
patience  also,  in  efforts  to  convince  both  that  the  evils 
they  charged  on  each  other  were  inherent  in  the 
case,  and  could  not  be  cured  by  giving  either  party  a 
victory  over  the  other. 

Plainly,  the  irritating  system  was  not  to  be  per- 
petual ;  and  it  was  plausibly  urged  that  it  could  be 
modified  at  once  with  advantage.  The  case  could 
scarcely  be  worse,  and  whether  it  could  be  made  bet- 
ter could  only  be  determined  by  a  trial.  In  this 
view,  and  not  to  ban  or  brand  General  Curtis,  or  to 
give  a  victory  to  any  party,  I  made  the  change  of 
commander  for  the  department.  I  now  learn  that 
soon  after  this  change  Mr.  Dick  was  removed,  and 
that  Mr.  Brodhead,  a  gentleman  of  no  less  good 
character,  was  put  in  the  place.  The  mere  fact  of 
this  change  is  more  distinctly  complained  of  than  is 
any  conduct  of  the. new  officer,  or  other  consequence 
of  the  change. 

I  gave  the  new  commander  no  instructions  as  to 
the  administration  of  the  system  mentioned,  beyond 
what  is  contained  in  the  private  letter  afterward  sur- 
reptitiously published,  in  which  I  directed  him  to  act 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  321 

solely  for  the  public  good,  and  independently  of  both 
parties. 

Neither  any  thing  you  have  presented  me,  nor  any 
thing  I  have  otherwise  learned,  has  convinced  me 
that  he  has  been  unfaithful  to  this  charge. 

Imbecility  is  urged  as  one  cause  for  removing 
General  Schofield,  and  the  late  massacre  at  Lawrence, 
Kansas,  is  pressed  as  an  evidence  of  that  imbecility. 
To  my  mind,  that  fact  searcely  tends  to  prove  the 
proposition.  That  massacre  is  only  an  example  of 
what  Grierson,  John  Morgan,  and  many  others, 
might  have  repeatedly  done  on  their  respective  raids, 
had  they  chosen  to  incur  the  personal  hazard,  and 
possessed  the  fiendish  hearts  to  do  it. 

The  charge  is  made  that  General  Schofield,  on 
purpose  to  protect  the  Lawrenee  murderers,  would 
not  allow  them  to  be  pursued  into  Missouri.  "While 
no  punishment  could  be  too  sudden  or  too  severe  for 
those  murderers,  I  am  well  satisfied  that  the  prevent- 
ing of  the  threatened  remedial  raid  into  Missouri  was 
the  only  way  to  avoid  an  indiscriminate  massacre 
there,  including  probably  more  innocent  than  guilty. 
Instead  of  condemning,  I  therefore  approve  what  I 
understand  General  Schofield  did  in  that  respect. 

The  charge  that  General  Schofield  has  purposely 
withheld  protection  from  loyal  people,  and  purposely 
facilitated  the  objects  of  the  disloyal,  are  altogether 
beyond  my  belief.  I  do  not  arraign  the  veracity  of 
gentlemen  as  to  the  facts  complained  of,  but  I  do 
more  than  question  the  judgment  which  would  infer 
that  these  facts  occurred  in  accordance  with  the  pur- 
poses of  General  Schofield. 


322  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

With  my  present  views,  I  must  decline  to  remove 
General  Schofield.  In  this  I  decide  nothing  against 
General  Butler.  I  sincerely  wish  it  were  convenient 
to  assign  him  a  suitable  command. 

In  order  to  meet  some  existing  evils,  I  have  ad- 
dressed a  letter  of  instruction  to  General  Schofield,  a 
copy  of  which  I  inclose  you.  As  to  the  "enrolled 
militia,"  I  shall  endeavor  to  ascertain,  better  than  I 
now  know,  what  is  its  exact  value.  Let  me  say  now, 
however,  that  your  proposal  to  substitute  national 
force  for  the  "  enrolled  militia"  implies  that,  in  your 
judgment,  the  latter  is  doing  something  which  needs 
to  be  done ;  and  if  so,  the  proposition  to  throw  that 
force  away,  to  supply  its  place  by  bringing  other 
forces  from  the  field,  where  they  are  urgently  needed, 
seems  to  me  very  extraordinary.  Whence  shall  they 
come  ?  Shall  they  be  withdrawn  from  Banks,  or 
Grant,  or  Steele,  or  Rosecrans? 

Few  things  have  been  so  grateful  to  my  anxious 
feelings  as  when,  in  June  last,  the  local  force  in  Mis- 
souri aided  General  Schofield  to  so  promptly  send  a 
large  general  force  to  the  relief  of  General  Grant, 
then  investing  Vicksburg,  and  menaced  from  without 
by  General  Johnston.  Was  this  all  wrong?  Should 
the  enrolled  militia  then  have  been  broken  up,  and 
General  Heron  kept  from  Grant  to  police  Missouri? 
So  far  from  finding  cause  to  object,  I  confess  to  a 
sympathy  for  whatever  relieves  our  general  force  in 
Missouri,  and  allows  it  to  serve  elsewhere.  I  there- 
fore, as  at  present  advised,  can  not  attempt  the  de- 
struction of  the  enrolled  militia  of  Missouri. 

I  may  add,  that  the  force  being  under  the  national 


PEN    AND    VOICE  323 

military  control,  it  is  also  within  the  proclamation 
•with  regard  to  the  habeas  corpus.  I  concur  in  the 
propriety  of  your  request,  in  regard  to  elections,  and 
have,  as  you  see,  directed  General  Schoticld  ac- 
cordingly. 

i  do  not  feel  justified  to  enter  upon  the  broad  field 
you  present,  in  regard  to  the  political  differences  be- 
tween radicals  and  conservatives.  From  time  to  time 
I  have  done  and  said  what  appeared  to  me  proper  to 
do  and  say.  The  public  knows  it  well.  It  obliges 
nobody  to  follow  me,  and  1  trust  it  obliges  me  to  fol- 
low nobody.  The  radicals  and  conservatives  each 
agree  with  me  in  some  things  and  disagree  in  others. 
I  could  wish  both  to  agree  with  me  in  all  things;  for 
then  they  would  agree  with  each  other,  and  would  be 
too  strong  for  any  foe  from  any  quarter.  They,  how- 
ever, choose  to  do  otherwise  ;  and  I  do  not  question 
their  right.  I  too  shall  do  what  seems  to  be  my  duty. 
I  hold  whoever  commands  in  Missouri  or  elsewhere 
responsible  to  me,  and  not  to  either  radicals  or  con- 
servatives. It  is  my  duty  to  hear  all  ;  but,  at  last,  I 
must  within  my  sphere,  judge  what  to  do  and  what  to 
forbear.     Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincoln. 

The  President  to  Tiiurlow  Weed. 

Washington,  October  14,  1863. 
Dear  Sir: — I  have  been  brought  to  fear  recently 
that  somehow,  by  commission  or  omission,  1  have 
caused  you  some  degree  of  pain.  I  have  never  enter- 
tained an  unkind  feeling  or  a  disparaging  thought 
toward  you ;  and  if  I  have  said  or  done  any  thing 


324  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

which  has  been  construed  into  such    unkindness  or 
disparagement,  it  has  been  misconstrued. 

I  am  sure  if  we  could  meet  we  would  not  part  with 
any  unpleasant  impression  on  either  side. 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Washington,  D.  C,  October  27, 1863. 

In  June  last,  a  division  was  substantially  lost  at, 
and  near  Winchester,  Va.  At  the  time,  it  was  under 
General  Milroy  as  immediate  commander  in  the  field, 
General  Schenck  as  department  commander  at  Balti- 
more, and  General  Halleck  as  General-in-Chief,  at 
Washington. 

General  Milroy,  as  immediate  commander,  was  put 
in  arrest,  and  subsequently  a  court  of  inquiry  ex- 
amined chiefly  with  reference  to-  disobedience  of 
orders,  and  reported  the  evidence. 

The  foregoing  is  a  synoptical  statement  of  the  evi- 
dence, together  with  the  Judge-Advoeate-GeneraPs 
conclusions.  The  disaster,  when  it  came,  was  a  sur- 
prise to  all.  It  was  very  well  known  to  Generals 
Schenck  and  Milroy  for  some  time,  before  that.  Gen- 
eral Halleck  thought  the  division  was  in  great  danger 
of  a  surprise  at  Winchester  ;  that  it  was  of  no  service 
commensurate  with  the  risk  it  incurred,  and  that  it  ' 
ought  to  be  withdrawn ;  but,  although,  he  more  than 
once  advised  its  withdrawel,  he  never  positively  or- 
dered it.  General  Schenck,  on  the  contrary,  believed 
the  service  of  the  force  at  Winchester  was  worth  the 
hazard,  and  so  did  not  positively  order  its  withdrawal 
until  it  was  so  late  that,  the  enemy  cut  the  wire  and 
prevented  the  order  reaching  General  Milroy.  General 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  325 

Milroy  seems  to  have  concurred  with  General  Schenck 
in  the  opinion  that  the  force  should  be  kept  at  Win- 
chester, at  least  until  the  approach  of  danger,  but  he 
disobeyed  no  order  upon  the  subject. 

Some  question  can  be  made  whether  some  of  Gen- 
eral Halleck's  dispatches  to  General  Schenck  should 
not  have  been  construed  to  be  orders  to  withdraw  the 
force  and  obeyed  accordingly ;  but,  no  such  question 
can  be  made  against  General  Milroy.  In  fact,  the  last 
order  he  received  was  to  be  prepared  to  withdraw, 
but  not  to  actually  withdraw  until  further  orders, 
which  further  order  never  reached  him. 

Serious  blame  is  not  necessarily  due  to  any  serious 
disaster,  and  I  can  not  say  that  in  this  case,  any  of  the 
officers  are  deserving  of  serious  blame. 

No  court-martial  is  deemed  necessary  or  proper  in 
this  case.  A.  Lincoln. 

Private  and  Confidential. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Oct.  28,  1863. 

General  John  31.  Schojield: — /There  have  recently 
reached  the  War  Department,  and  thence  been  laid 
before  me,  from  Missouri,  three  communications,  all 
similar  in  import  and  identical  in  object. 

One  of  them  addressed  to  nobody  and  without 
place  or  date,  but  having  the  signature  of  (apparently) 
the  writer,  is  a  letter  of  eight  closely  written  fools- 
cap pages.  The  other  two  are  written  by  a  different 
person,  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  and  of  the  dates,  re- 
spectively, October  12  and  13,  1863,  and  each  inclos- 
ing a  large  number  of  affidavits.  The  general  state- 
ment  of  the   whole   are   that   the  Federal   and   state 


326  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

authorities  are  arming  the  disloyal  and  disarming  the 
loyal,  and  that  the  latter  will  all  he  killed  and  driven 
out  of  the  state  unless  there  shall  he  a  change.  In 
particular,  no  loyal  man  who  has  been  disarmed  is 
named,  but  the  affidavits  show  by  name  forty-two 
persons  as  disloyal  who  have  been  armed. 

A  majority  of  these  are  shown  to  have  been  in  the 
rebel  service.  I  believe  it  could  be  shown  that  the 
government  here  has  deliberately  armed  more  than 
ten  times  as  many  captured  at  Gettysburg,  to  say 
nothing  of  similar  operations  in  East  Tennessee. 

These  papers  contain  altogether  thirty-one  manu- 
script pages,  and  one  newspaper  in  extensOj  and  yet  I 
do  not  rind  it  anywhere  charged  in  them  that  any 
loyal  man  has  been  harmed  by  reason  of  being  dis- 
armed,  or  that  any  disloyal  one  has  harmed  anybody 
by  reason  of  being  armed  by  the  Federal  or  state- 
government.  Of  course,  I  have  not  had  time  to  care- 
fully examine  all,  but  I  have  had  most  of  them  ex- 
amined and  briefed  by  others,  and  the  result  is  as 
stated.  The  remarkable  fact  that  the  actual  evil  is 
vet  only  anticipated — inferred — induces  me  to  sup- 
pose I  understand  the  case;  but  I  do  not  state  my 
impression,  because  I  might  be  mistaken,  and  because 
your  duty  and  mine  is  plain  in  any  event.  The 
locality  of  nearly  all  this  seems  to  he  St.  Joseph  and 
Buchanan  county. 

I  wish  you  to  give  special  attention  to  this  region, 
particularly  on  election  day.  Prevent  violence  from 
whatever  quarter,  and  see  that  the  soldiers  them- 
selves do  no  wrong.  Yours  truly. 

A.  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  327 

Reply  of  President  Lincoln  on  the  Re-Admission  of 

Louisiana. 

Fall  of  1863. 

Messrs.  E.  E.  Motriol,  Bradit,  Johnston,  and  Thoma 
Qottsman:  Gentlemen — Since  receiving  the  letter,  re- 
liable information  has  reached  me  that  a  respectable 
portion  of  the  Louisiana  people  desire  to  amend  their 
state  constitution,  and  contemplate  holding  a  con- 
vention for  that  object.  This  fact  alone,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  is  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  general  govern- 
ment should  not  give  the  committee  the  authority 
you  seek  to  act  under  the  existing  state  constitution. 
I  may  add  that  while  I  do  not  perceive  how  such  a 
committee  could  facilitate  our  military  operations  in 
Louisiana,  I  really  apprehend  it  might  be  so  used  as 
to  embarrass  them. 

As  to  an  election  to  be  held  in  November,  there  is 
abundant  time  without  any  order  or  proclamation 
from  me  just  now.  The  people  of  Louisiana  shall 
not  lack  an  opportunity  for  a  fair  election  for  both 
Federal  and  state  officers  by  want  of  any  thing  within 
my  power  to  give  them. 

Your  obedient  servant,  A.  Lincobn. 

To  the  Honorable  House  of  Representatives. 
In  compliance  with  the  request  contained   in  your 
resolution  of  the  29th  ultimo,  a  copy  of  which  resolu- 
tion is  herewith  returned,  I  have  the  honor  to  trans- 
mit the  following: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Nov.  2,  1863. 
Hon.  Montgomery  Blair:    My  Dear  Sir — Some  days 


328  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

ago  I  understood  you  to  say  that  your  brother,  Gen- 
eral Frank  Blair,  desired  to  be  guided  by  my  wishes 
as  to  whether  he  will  occupy  his  seat  in  Congress  or 
remain  in  the  field. 

My  wish,  then,  is  compounded  of  what  I  believe 
will  be  best  for  the  country;  and  it  is  that  he  will 
come  here,  put  his  military  commission  in  my  hands, 
take  his  seat,  go  into  caucus  with  our  friends,  abide 
the  nominations,  help  elect  the  nominees,  and  thus 
aid  to  organize  a  House  of  Representatives  which 
will  really  support  the  government  in  the  war. 

If  the  result  shall  be  the  election  of  himself  as 
speaker,  let  him  serve  in  that  position.  If  not,  let 
him  retake  his  commission  and  return  to  the  army 
ibr  the  benefit  of  the  country.  This  will  heal  a  dan- 
gerous schism  for  him.  It  will  relieve  him  from  a 
dangerous  position  or  a  misunderstanding,  as  I  think 
he  is  in  danger  of  being  permanently  separated  from 
those  with  whom  only  he  can  ever  have  a  real  sym- 
pathy— the  sincere  opponents  of  slavery. 

It  will  be  a  mistake  if  he  shall  allow  the  provoca- 
tion offered  him  by  insincere  time-servers  to  drive 
him  from  the  house  of  his  own  building.  He  is 
young  yet.  He  has  abundant  talents — quite  enough 
to  occupy  all  his  time  without  devoting  any  to  tem- 
per. He  is  rising  in  military  skill  and  usefulness. 
His  recent  appointment  to  the  command  of  a  corps, 
by  one  so  competent  to  judge  as  General  Sherman, 
proves  this. 

In  that  line  he  can  serve  both  the  country  and 
himself  more  profitably  than  he  could  as  a  member 
of  Congress  upon  the  floor.     The  foregoing  is  what  I 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  329 

would  say  if  Frank  Blah-  was  my  brother  instead  of 
yours.  A.  Lincoln. 

Address  at  the  Dedication  of  Gettysburg  Cemetery, 
November  19,  18G3. 
Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in 
liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men 
are  created  free  and  equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in 
a  great  civil  war,  testing  whether  that  nation,  or  any 
nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated,  can  long  en- 
dure. AVe  are  met  on  a  great  battle  field  of  that  war. 
We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a 
final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave  their  lives 
that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether  fitting 
and  proper  that  we  should  do  this.  But  in  a  larger 
sense  we  can  not  dedicate,  we  can  not  consecrate,  we 
can  not  hallow7,  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far 
above  our  power  to  add  or  detract.  The  world  will 
little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here,  but 
it  can  never  forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us, 
the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the  unfin- 
ished work  which  they  who  fought  here  have  thus 
far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be  here 
dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us,  that 
from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion 
to  that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  meas- 
ure of  devotion  ;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that 
these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain,  that  this  na 
tion,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom, 
28 


330  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

and  that  the  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 

and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

This  finds  an  echo  in  the  following  ever-to-be-re- 
membered words  of  Daniel  Webster,  in  his  reply  to 
LTayne,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  January  26, 
1830: 

"  When  my  eyes  turn  to  behold  for  the  last  time 
the  sun  in  heaven,  may  they  not  see  him  shining  on 
the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glori- 
ous Union;  on  states  dissevered,  discordant,  belliger- 
ent; on  a  land  rent  with  civil  feuds;  or  drenched,  it 
may  be,  in  fraternal  blood.  Let  their  last  feeble  and 
lingering  glance  rather  behold  the  gorgeous  ensign 
of  the  republic,  now  known  and  honored  throughout 
the  earth,  still  full  high  advanced;  its  arms  and 
trophies  streaming  in  all  their  original  luster ;  not  a 
stripe  erased  or  polluted;  not  a  single  star  obscured;' 
bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miserable  interrogatory 
as  '  What  is  all  this  worth  ? '  nor  those  other  words 
of  delusion  and  folly,  of  liberty  first  and  union  after- 
ward, but  every- where,  spread  all  over  in  characters 
of  living  light,  and  blazing  on  all  its  ample  folds,  as 
they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land,  and  in 
every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other  sen- 
timent dear  to  every  American  heart — l  Liberty  and 
Union — now  and  forever — one  and  inseparable.' ' 

President  Lincoln's  Third  Annual  Message. 

December  8,  1863. 
Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives:— Another  year  of  health   and  of  sufficiently 
abundant  harvests  has   passed.     For  these,  and   es- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  331 

pecially  for  the  improved  condition  of  our  national 
affairs,  our  renewed  and  profoundest  gratitude  to 
God  is  due. 

We  remain  in  peace  and  friendship  with  foreign 
powers. 

The  efforts  of  disloyal  citizens  of  the  United  States 
to  involve  us  in  foreign  wars,  to  aid  an  inexcusable 
insurrection,  have  been  unavailing.  Her  Britannic 
Majesty's  government,  as  was  justly  expected,  have 
exercised  their  authority  to  prevent  the  departure  of 
new  hostile  expeditions  from  British  ports.  The  Em- 
peror of  France  has,  by  a  like  proceeding,  promptly 
vindicated  the  neutrality  which  he  proclaimed  at  the 
beginning  of  the  contest.  Questions  of  great  intri- 
cacy and  importance  have  arisen  out  of  the  blockade 
and  other  belligerent  operations,  between  the  govern- 
ment and  several  of  the  maritime  powers,  but  they 
have  been  discussed,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  accom- 
modated in  a  spirit  of  frankness,  justice,  and  mutual 
good-will.  It  is  especially  gratifying  that  our  prize 
courts,  by  the  impartiality  of  their  adjudications, 
have  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence  of  mari- 
time powers.     .     .     . 

Incidents  occurring  in  the  progress  of  our  civil 
war  have  forced  upon  my  attention  the  uncertain 
state  of  international  questions  touching  the  rights 
of  foreigners  in  this  country  and  of  United  States 
citizens  abroad.  In  regard  to  some  governments, 
these  rights  are  at  least  partially  defined  by  treaties. 
In  no  instance,  however,  is  it  expressly  stipulated 
that  in  the  event  of  civil  war  a  foreigner  residing  in 
this  country,  within  the  lilies  of  the  insurgents,  is  to 


832  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

be  exempted  from  the  rule  which  classes  him  as  a 
belligerent,  in  whose  behalf  the  government  of  his 
country  can  not  expect  any  privileges  or  immunities 
distinct  from  that  character.  I  regret  to  say,  how- 
ever, that  such  claims  have  been  put  forward,  and,  in 
some  instances,  in  behalf  of  foreigners  who  have 
lived  in  the  United  States  the  greater  part  of  their 
lives.     .     . 

"When  Congress  assembled  a  year  ago  the  war  had 
already  lasted  nearly  twenty  months,  and  there  had 
been  many  conflicts  on  both  land  and  sea,  with  vary- 
ing  results. 

The  rebellion  had  been  pushed  back  into  reduced 
limits;  yet  the  tone  of  public  feeling  and  opinion,  at 
home  and  abroad,  was  not  satisfactory.  With  other 
signs,  the  popular  elections,  then  just  past,  indicated 
uneasiness  among  ourselves,  while  amid  much  that 
was  cold  and  menacing,  the  kindest  words  coming 
from  Europe  were  uttered  in  accents  of  pity,  that  we 
were  too  blind  to  surrender  a  hopeless  cause. 

Our  commerce  was  suffering  greatly  by  a  few  armed 
v"(  sselshuilt  upon  and  furnished  from  foreign  shores, 
and  we  were  threatened  with  such  additions  from  the 
same  quarter  as  would  sweep  our  trade  from  the  sea 
and  raise  our  blockade.  ¥e  had  failed  to  elicit  from 
European  governments  any  thing  hopeful  upon  this 
subject.  The  preliminary  emancipation  proclamation, 
issued  in  September,  was  running  its  assigned  period 
to  the  beginning  of  the  new  year.  A  month  later  the 
final  proclamation  came,  including  the  announcement 
that  colored  men  of  suitable  condition  would  be  re- 
ceived into  the  war  service.     The  policy  of  emancipa- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  333 

tion,  .and  of  employing  black  soldiers,  gave  to  the 
future  a  new  aspect,  about  which  hope,  and  fear,  and 
doubt  contended  in  uncertain  conflict.  According  to 
our  political  system,  as  a  matter  of  civil  administration, 
the  general  government  had  no  lawful  power  to  effect 
emancipation  in  any  state,  and  for  a  long  time  it  had 
been  hoped  that  the  rebellion  could  be  suppressed 
without  resorting  to  it  as  a  military  measure.  It  was 
all  the  while  deemed  possible  that  the  necessity  for  it 
might  come,  and  that  if  it  should,  the  crisis  of  the 
contesl  would  then  be  presented.  It  came,  and,  as 
was  anticipated,  it  was  followed  by  dark  and  doubtful 
days.  Kleven  months  have  now  passed,  we  are  per- 
mitted to  take  another  view.  The  rebel  borders  are 
pressed  still  further  back,  and  by  the  complete  opening 
of  the  Mississippi,  the  country  dominated  by  the  re- 
bellion is  divided  into  distinct  parts,  with  no  practical 
communication  between  them.  Tennessee  and  Ar- 
kansas have  been  substantially  cleared  of  insurgent 
control,  and  influential  citizens  in  each,  owners  of 
slaves  and  advocates  of  slavery  at  the  beginning  of 
the  rebellion,  now  declare  openly  for  emancipation  in 
their  respective  states. 

Of  those  states  not  included  in  the  emancipation 
proclamation,  Maryland  and  Missouri,  neither  of 
which  three  years  ago  would  tolerate  any  restraint 
upon  the  extension  of  slavery,  into  new  territories, 
only  dispute  now  as  to  the  best  mode  of  removing  it 
within  their  own  limits. 

Of  those  who  were  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the 
rebellion,  full  one  hundred  thousand  are  now  in  the 
United  States    military    service,    about    one   half  of 


334  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

which  number  actually  bear  arms  in  the  ranks,  thus 
giving  the  double  advantage  of  taking  so  much  labor 
from  the  insurgent  cause,  and  supplying  the  places 
which  otherwise  must  be  filled  with  so  many  white 
men.  So  far  as  tested,  it  is  difficult  to  say  they  are 
not  as  good  soldiers  as  an  v.  Xo  servile  insurrection 
or  tendency  to  violence  or  cruelty,  has  marked  the 
measures  of  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks. 
These  measures  have  been  much  discussed,  in  foreign 
countries,  and  contemporary  with  such  discussion 
the  tone  of  public  sentiment  there  is  much  improved. 
At  home  the  same  measures  have  been  fully  discussed, 
supported,  criticised  and  denounced,  and  the  annual 
elections  following  are  highly  encouraging;  to  those 
whose  official  duty  it  is  to  bear  the  country  through 
this  great  trial.  Thus  we  have  the  new  reckoning. 
The  crisis  which  threatened  to  divide  the  friends  of 
the  Union  is  past. 

Looking  now  at  the  present  and  future,  and  with 
reference  to  a  resumption  of  the  national  authority 
within  the  states  wherein  that  authority  has  been  sus- 
pended, I  have  thought  lit  to  issue  a  proclamation,  a 
copy  of  which  is  herewith  transmitted.  On  examina- 
tion of  this  proclamation  it  will  appear,  as  is  believed, 
that  nothing  will  be  attempted  beyond  what  is  simply 
justified  by  the  Constitution.  True,  the  form  of  an 
oath  is  given,  but  no  man  is  coerced  to  take  it.  The 
man  is  only  promised  a  pardon  in  case  he  voluntarily 
takes  the  oath.  The  Constitution  authorizes  the  Ex- 
ecutive to  grant  or  withhold  the  pardon  at  his  own 
absolute  discretion,  and  this  includes  the  power  to 
grant  on  terms,  as  is  fully  established  by  judicial  and 


I'KV    AND    VOICE.  335 

other  authorities.  It  is  also  proffered  that  if,  in  any 
of  the  states  named,  a  state  government  shall  be,  in 
the  mode  prescribed,  set  up,  such  government  shall  he 
recognized  and  guaranteed  by  the  United  States,  and 
that  under  it  the  state  shall,  on  constitutional  con- 
ditions, be  protected  against  invasion  and  domestic 
violence.  The  constitutional  obligation  of  the  United 
States,  to  guarantee  to  every  state  in  the  Union  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  and  to  protect  the  state 
in  the  cases  stated,  is  explicit  and  full.  But  why  ten- 
der the  benefits  of  this  provision  only  to  a  state 
government  set  up  in  this  particular  way?  This  sec- 
tion of  the  Constitution  contemplates  a  ease  wherein 
the  element  within  a  state,  favorable  to  republican 
government,  in  the  Union,  may  be  too  feeble  for  an 
opposite  and  hostile  element  external  to  or  even  with- 
in the  state;  and  such  are  precisely  the  cases  with 
v.  hich  we  are  now  dealing.  An  attempt  to  guarantee 
and  protect  a  revived  state  government,  constructed 
in  whole,  or  in  preponderating  part,  from  the  very 
element  against  whose  hostility  and  violence  it  is  to 
be  protected,  is  simply  absurd.  There  must  be  a  test 
by  which  to  separate  the  opposing  elements,  so  as  to 
build  only  from  the  sound,  and  that  test  is  a  sufficient- 
ly liberal  one  which  accepts  as  sound  whoever  will 
make  a  sworn  recantation  of  his  former  unsoundness. 
But  if  it  be  proper  to  require  as  a  test  of  admission 
to  the  political  body,  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  to  the  Union  un- 
der it,  why  also  to  the  laws  and  proclamations  in 
regard  to  slavery?  Those  laws  and  proclamations 
were  enacted  and  put  forth  for  the  purpose  of  aiding 


336  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

in  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion.  To  give  them 
their  fullest  effect,  there  had  to  he  a  pledge  for  their 
maintenance.  In  my  judgment  they  have  aided,  and 
will  further  aid,  the  cause  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended. To  now  abandon  them  would  be  not  only  to 
relinquish  a  lever  of  power,  but  would  also  be  a  cruel 
and  astounding  breach  of  faith.  I  may  add  at  this 
point,  that  while  I  remain  in  my  present  position  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or  modify  the  emancipa- 
tion proclamation,  nor  shall  I  return  to  slavery  any 
person  who  is  free  by  the  terms  of  that  proclamation, 
or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Congress. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  it  is  thought  best  that 
support  of  these  measures  shall  be  included  in  the 
oath  ;  and  it  is  believed  the  executive  may  lawfully 
claim  it  in  return  for  pardon  and  restoration  of  for- 
feited rights,  which  he  has  clear  constitutional  pow- 
er to  withhold  altogether,  or  grant  upon  the  terms 
which  he  shall  deem  wisest  for  the  public  interest. 

It  should  be  observed,  also,  that  this  part  of  the 
oath  is  subject  to  the  modifying  and  abrogating  power 
of  legislation  and  supreme  judicial  decision. 

"The  proposed  acquiescence  of  the  national  executive 
in  any  reasonable  temporary  state  arrangement  for 
the  freed  people  is  made  with  the  view  of  possibly 
modifying  the  confusion  and  destitution  which  must 
at  best  attend  all  classes  by  a  total  revolution  of  labor 
throughout  whole  states. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  already  deeply  afflicted  people 
in  those  states  may  be  somewhat  more  ready  to  give 
up  the  cause  of  their  affliction,  if,  to  this  extent,  tins 
vital  matter  be  left  to  themselves ;  while  no  power  of 


'  PEN  AND  VOICE.  337 

the  national  executive  to  prevent  an  abuse  is  abridged 
by  the  proposition. 

The  suggestion  in  the  proclamation  as  to  maintain- 
ing the  political  frame-work  of  the  states  on  what  is 
called  reconstruction,  is  made  in  the  hope  that  it  may 
do  o-ood  without  the  danger  of  harm.  It  will  save 
labor,  and  avoid  great  confusion. 

But  why  any  proclamation  now  upon  the  subject? 
This  question  is  beset  with  the  conflicting  views  that 
the  step  might  be  delayed  too  long  or  be  taken  too 
soon.  In  some  states  the  elements  for  resumption  seem 
ready  for  action,  but  remain  inactive,  apparently  for 
want  of  a  rallying  point — a  plan  of  action.  Why  shall 
A  adopt  the  plan  of  B  rather  than  B  that  of  A  ?  And 
if  A  and  B  should  agree,  how  can  they  know  but  that 
the  general  government  here  will  reject  their  plan? 
By  the  proclamation  a  plan  is  presented  which  may 
be  accepted  by  them  as  a  rallying  point,  and  which 
they  are  assured  in  advance  will  not  be  rejected  here. 
This  may  bring  them  to  act  sooner  than  they  other- 
wise would. 

The  objection  to  a  premature  presentation  of  a  plan 
by  the  national  executive  consists  in  the  danger  of 
committals  on  points  which  could  be  more  safely  left 
to  further  developments. 

Care  has  been  taken  to  so  shape  the  document  as  to 
avoid  embarrassments  from  this  source.  Saying  that 
in  certain  terms,  certain  classes  will  be  pardoned,  with 
rights  restored,  it  is  not  said  that  other  classes,  or 
other  terms  will  never  be  included.  Saying  that  re- 
construction will  be  accepted  if  presented  in  a  speci- 
29 


838  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

fied  way,  it  is  not  said  it  will  never  be  accepted  in  any 
other  way. 

The  movements,  by  state  action,  for  emancipation 
in  several  of  the  states,  not  included  in  the  emancipa- 
tion proclamation,  are  matters  of  profound  gratula- 
tion.  And  while  I  do  not  repeat  in  detail  what  I  have 
heretofore  so  earnestly  urged  upon  this  subject,  my 
general  views  and  feelings  remain  unchanged  ;  and  I 
trust  that  Congress  will  omit  no  fair  opportunity  of 
aiding  these  important  steps  to  a  great  consummation. 

In  the  midst  of  other  cares,  however  important,  we 
must  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  war  power  is 
still  our  main  reliance.  To  that  power  alone  we 
can  look  yet  for  a  time,  to  give  confidence  to  the 
people  in  the  contested  regions,  that  the  insurgent 
power  will  not  again  overrun  them.  Until  that  con- 
fidence shall  be  established,  little  can  be  done  any- 
where for  what  is  called  reconstruction. 

Hence  our  chiefest  care  must  be  directed  to  the 
army  and  navy,  who  have  thus  far  borne  their  harder 
part  so  nobly  and  well.  And  it  may  be  esteemed 
fortunate  that  in  giving  the  greatest  efficiency  to 
these  indispensable  arms,  we  do  also  honorably  recog- 
nize the  gallant  men,  from  commander  to  sentinel, 
who  compose  them,  and  to  whom,  more  than  to 
others,  the  world  must  stand  indebted  for  the  home 
of  freedom  disenthralled,  regenerated,  enlarged  and 
perpetuated.  A.  Lincoln. 

Proclamation  of  Amnesty. 

December  8,  1863. 
Whereas,  in  and  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  839 

States,  it  is  provided  that  the  president  "  shall  have 
power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offenses 
against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeach- 
ment ;"  and  whereas  a  rebellion  now  exists  whereby 
the  loyal  state. governments  of  several  states  have  for 
a  long  time  been  subverted,  and  many  persons  have 
committed  and  are  now  guilty  of  treason,  against  the 
United  States,  and  whereas,  with  reference  to  such 
rebellion  and  treason,  laws  have  been  enacted  by 
Congress  declaring  forfeitures  and  confiscation  of 
property  and  liberation  of  slaves,  all  upon  terms  and 
conditions  therein  stated,  and  also  declaring  that  the 
president  was  thereby  authorized  at  any  time  there- 
after, by  proclamation,  to  extend  to  persons  who  may 
have  participated  in  the  existing  rebellion,  in  any 
state  or  part  thereof,  pardon  and  amnesty  with  such 
exceptions  and  at  such  times  and  on  such  conditions 
as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  public  welfare ; 
and  whereas,  the  congressional  declaration  and  limited 
and  conditional  pardon  accords  with  well  established 
judicial  exposition  of  the  pardoning  power;  and 
whereas,  with  reference  to  said  rebellion,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  has  issued  several  procla- 
mations, with  provisions  in  regard  to  the  liberation 
of  slaves ;  and  whereas,  it  is  now  desired  by  some 
persons  heretofore  engaged  in  said  rebellion  to  resume 
their  allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and  to  reinau- 
gurate  loyal  state  governments  within  and  for  their 
respective  states : 

Therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the 
United  States,  do  proclaim,  declare,  and  make  known 
to  all  persons  who  have  directly,  or  by  implication, 


340  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

participated  in  the  existing  rebellion,  except  as  here- 
inafter excepted,  that  a  full  pardon  is  hereby  granted 
to  them  and  each  of  them,  with  restoration  of  all 
rights  and  property,  except  as  to  slaves,  and  in  prop- 
erty cases  where  rights  of  third  parties  shall  have 
intervened,  and  upon  the  condition  that  every  such 
person  shall  take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  and  thence- 
forward keep  and  maintain  such  oath  inviolate  ;  and 
which  oath  shall  be  registered  for  permanent  preser- 
vation, and  shall  be  of  the  tenor  and  effect  following, 

to  wit  : 

"  I5 ,  do  solemnly  swear,  in  presence  of 

Almighty  God,  that  I  will  henceforth  faithfully  sup- 
port, protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  union  of  the  states  thereunder  ; 
and  that  I  will,  in  like  manner,  abide  by  and  faith- 
fully support  all  acts  of  Congress  passed  during  the 
existing  rebellion  with  reference  to  slaves,  so  long 
and  so  far  as  not  repealed,  modified,  or  held  void  by 
Congress,  or  by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  and 
that" I  will,  in  like  manner,  abide  by  and  faithfully 
support,  all  proclamations  of  the  president  made 
during  the  existing  rebellion  having  reference  to 
slaves,  so  Ions;  and  so  far  as  not  modified  or  declared 
void  by  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court.  So  help  me 
God/'" 

The  persons  excepted  from  the  benefits  of  the  fore- 
going provisions  are  all  who  are,  or  shall  have  been, 
civil  or  diplomatic  officers  or  agents  of  the  so-called 
Confederate  government;  all  who  have  left  judicial 
stations  under  the  United  States  to  aid  the  rebellion  ; 
all  who  are,   or  shall   have   been,  military  or  navy 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  341 

officers  of  said  so-called  Confederate  government 
above  the  rank  of  colonel  in  the  army,  or  of  lieutenant 
in  the  navy  ;  all  who  left  seats  in  the  United  States 
Congress  to  aid  the  rebellion  ;  all  who  resigned  com- 
missions in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States, 
and  afterward  aided  the  rebellion  ;  and  all  who  have 
engaged  in  any  way  in  treating  colored  persons,  or 
white  persons  in  charge  of  such,  otherwise  than  law- 
fully as  prisoners  of  war,  and  which  persons  may 
have  been  found  in  the  United  States  service  as  sol- 
diers, seamen,  or  in  any  other  capacity. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make 
known  that  whenever  in  any  of  the  states  of  Arkan- 
sas, Texas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Ala- 
bama, Georgia,  Virginia,  Florida,  South  Carolina, 
and  North  Carolina,  a  number  of  persons,  not  less 
than  one-tenth  in  number  of  the  votes  cast  in  such 
state  at  the  presidential  election  of  the  year  of  our 
Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty,  each 
having  taken  the  oath  aforesaid  and  not  having  since 
violated  it,  and  being  a  qualified  voter  by  the  election 
law  of  the  state  existing  immediately  before  the  so- 
called  act  of  secession,  and  excluding  all  others,  shall 
re-establish  a  state  government  which  shall  be  repub- 
lican, and  in  no  wise  contravening  said  oath,  such 
shall  be  recognized  as  the  true  government  of  the 
state,  and  the  state  shall  receive  thereunder  the  bene- 
fits of  the  constitutional  provision  which  declares 
that  "the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state 
in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and 
shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion  ;  and,  oil 
application  of  the  legislature,  or  the  executive  (when 


342  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

the  legislature  cannot  be  convened),  against  domes- 
tic violence. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim,  declare,  and  make 
known  that  any  provision  that  may  he  adopted  by 
such  state  government,  in  relation  to  the  freed  people 
of  such  state,  which  shall  recognize  and  declare  their 
permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their  education,  and 
which  may  yet  be  consistent,  as  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment, with  their  present  condition  as  a  laboring, 
landless,  and  homeless  class,  will  not  be  objected  to 
by  the  national  executive.  And  it  is  suggested  as 
hot  improper  that,  in  constructing  a  loyal  state  gov- 
ernment in  any  state,  the  name  of  the  state,  the 
boundary,  the  subdivisions,  the  constitution,  and  the 
general  code  of  laws,  as  before  the  rebellion,  be  main- 
tained, subject  only  to  the  modifications  made  neces- 
sary by  the  conditions  herein  before  stated,  and  such 
others,  if  any,  not  contravening  said  conditions,  and 
which  may  be  deemed  expedient  by  those  framing 
the  new  state  government. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding,  it  may  be  proper  to 
say  that  this  proclamation,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  state 
governments,  has  no  reference  to  states  wherein  loyal 
state  governments  have  all  the  while  been  main- 
tained. And,  for  the  same  reason,  it  may  be  proper 
to  further  say  that  whether  members  sent  to  Con- 
gress from  any  state  shall  be  admitted  to  seats  con- 
stitutionally rests  exclusively  with  the  respective 
houses,  and  not  to  any  extent  with  the  executive. 
And,  still  further,  that  this  proclamation  is  intended 
to  present  the  people  of  the  states  wherein  the  na- 
tional  authority  has  been  suspended,  and  loyal  state 


PEN    AND    YORK.  3  t3 

governments  have  been  subverted,  a  mode  in  and  by 
which  the  national  and  loyal  state  governments  may 
be  re-established  within  such  states,  or  in  any  of  them  ; 
and,  while  the  mode  presented  is  the  best  the  execu- 
tive can  suggest,  with  his  present  impressions,  it  must 
not  be  understood  that  no  other  possible  mode  would 
be  acceptable. 

Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  City  of  Washington, 
the  eighth  day  of  December,  a.  d.  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  of  the  independence 
of  the  United  States  of  America  the  eighty-eighth. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  Hon.  Secretary  of  War. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Dec.  21,  1863. 

[Private.]  In  regard  to  the  western  matter,  I  be- 
lieve  the  programme  will  have  to  stand  substantially 
as  I  first  put  it. 

Henderson,  and  especially  Drown,  believe  that  the 
social  influence  of  St.  Louis  would  inevitably  tell  in- 
juriously upon    General   Pope  in  the  particular  diffi- 
culty existing  there,  and  I  think  there  is  some  force 
"in  that  view. 

As  to  retaining  General  S.  (Schofield),  temporarily, 
if  this  should  be  done,  I  believe  I  shall  scarcely  be 
able  to  get  his  nomination  through  the  Senate. 

Send  me  over  his  nomination,  which,  however,  I 
am  not  quite  ready  to  send  to  the  senate. 

Yours,  as  ever,  A.  Lincoln. 


344  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Letter  to  O.  D.  Filley,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Bee.  22,  1863. 
I  have  just   looked  over  a  petition  signed  by  some 
three  dozen  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  and  the  accompany- 
ing letters,  one  by  yourself,  one  by  a  Mr.  Nathan 
Ranney,  and  one  by  a  Mr.  John  D.  Coalter,  the  whole 
relating  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  McTheeters.     The  petition 
prays  that  in   the  name  of  justice  and  mercy  that  I 
will  restore  Dr.  McPheeters  to  all  his  ecclesiastical 
rights.     This  gives  no  intimation  as  to  what  ecclesias- 
tical   rights    are   withheld.     Your  letter  states  that 
Provost-Marshal   Dick,  about  a  year  ago,  ordered  the 
arrest   of    Dr.    McPheeters,    pastor   of    Pine    Street 
Church,  prohibited  him  from   officiating,  and  placed 
the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  church  out  of 
the  control  of  the  chosen  trustees ;  and  near  the  close 
you  state  that  a  certain  course  "would  insure  his  re- 
lease."    Mr.  Ranney's   letter  says :  "  Dr.  Samuel  B. 
McPheeters  is  enjoying  all  the  rights  of  a  civilian, 
but  can  not   preach  the  gospel ! ':     Mr.  Coalter,  in 
his   letter,  asks :    "  Is   it   not   a   strange   illustration 
of  the    condition  of  things,  that    the  question   who 
shall    be    allowed    to    preach    in    a    church    in    St. 
Louis  shall  be  decided  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States?"     Now,  all  this  sounds  very  strangely;  and, 
withal,    a    little    as    if  you    gentlemen,    making   the 
application,  do  not   understand  the  case  alike;    one 
affirming   that  the   doctor  is  enjoying  all  the   rights 
of  a   civilian,  and   another  pointing  out  to   me  what 
will   secure  his  release.     On   the   2d  of  January  last, 
I  wrote  to   General    Curtis  in  relation  to  Mr.  Dick's 
order  upon   Dr.  McPheeters;  and,  as  I  suppose,  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  345 

doctor  is  enjoying  all  the  rights  of  a  civilian,  I 
only  quote  that  part  of  my  letter  which  relates  to 
the  church.  It  was  as  follows:  "But  I  must  add 
that  the  United  States  Government  must  not,  as  hy 
this  order,  undertake  to  run  the  churches.  When  an 
individual  in  the  church  or  out  of  it,  becomes  dan- 
gerous to  the  public  interest,  he  must  be  checked  ; 
hut  the  churches,  as  such,  must  take  care  of  them- 
selves. It  will  not  do  for  the  United  States  to  ap- 
point trustees,  supervisors,  or  other  agents,  for  the 
churches." 

This  letter  going  to  General  Curtis,  then  in  com- 
mand there.  I  supposed,  of  course,  it  was  obeyed,  es- 
pecially as  I  heard  no  further  complaint  from  Dr. 
McPheeters  or  his  friends  for  nearly  an  entire  year. 
I  have  never  interfered,  or  thought  of  interfering,  as 
to  who  shall  or  shall  not  preach  in  any  church,  nor 
have  I  knowingly  or  believingly  tolerated  any  one 
else  to  so  interfere  by  my  authority.  If  any  one  is  so 
interfering,  by  color  of  my  authority,  I  would  like  to 
have  it  specifically  made  known  to  me. 

If,  after  all,  what  is  now  sought  is  to  have  me  put 
Dr.  M.  back  over  the  head  of  a  majority  of  his  own 
congregation,  that,  too,  will  be -declined.  I  will  not 
have  control  of  any  church  on  any  side. 

Yours  respectfully,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Gilmore. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  13,  1864. 
I   understand    an    effort    is    being   made   by   some 
worthy  gentlemen  to  reconstruct   a  legal   state  gov- 
ernment in  Florida.     Florida  is  in  your  department, 


346  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

and  it  is  not  unlikely  you  may  be  there  in  person. 
I  have  given  Mr.  Hay  a  commission  of  major,  and 
sent  him  to  you,  with  some  blank  books  and  other 
blanks,  to  aid  in  the  reconstruction.  He  will  explain 
as  to  the  manner  of  using  the  blanks,  and  also  my 
general  views  on  the  subject.  It  is  desirable  for  all 
to  co-operate,  but  if  irreconcilable  differences  of 
opinion  shall  arise,  you  are  master.  I  wish  the  thing 
done  in  the  most  speedy  way,  so  that  when  done  it 
be  within  the  range  of  the  late  proclamation  on  the 
subject.  The  detail  labor  will,  of  course,  have  to  be 
done  by  others;  but  I  will  be  greatly  obliged  if  you 
will  give  it  such  general  supervision  as  you  can  find 
consistent  with  your  more  strictly  military  duties. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

To  Messrs.  Crosby  and  Nichols. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  16,  1864. 

Gentlemen: — The  number  for  this  month  and  year 
of  the  North  American  Review  was  duly  received, 
and  for  which  please  accept  my  thanks. 

Of  course,  I  am  not  the  most  impartial  judge  ;  yet, 
with  due  allowance  for  this,  I  venture  to  hope  that  the 
article  entitled  "  The  President's  Policy  "  will  be  of 
value  to  the  country.  I  fear  I  am  not  worthy  of  all 
which  is  therein  kindly  said  of  me  personally. 

The  sentence  of  twelve  lines,  commencing  at  the 
top  of  page  252,  I  could  wish  to  be  not  exactly  what 
it  is.  In  what  is  there  expressed  the  writer  has  not 
correctly  understood  me.  I  have  never  had  a  theory 
that  secession  could  absolve  states  or  people  from 
their  obligation. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  347 

Precisely  the  contrary  is  asserted  in  the  inaugural 
address;  and  it  was  because  of  my  belief  in  the  con- 
tinuation of  those  obligations  that  I  was  puzzled,  for  a 
time,  as  to  denying  the  legal  rights  of  those  citizens 
who  remained  individually  innocent  of  treason  or  re- 
bellion.  But  I  mean  no  more  now  than  to  merely 
rail  attention  to  the  point. 

Yours,  very  repectfully,         A.  Lincoln. 

To  Major-General  Steele. 
Eecutiue  Mansion,  Washington,  Jan.  20,  1864. 
Sundry  citizens  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  petition 
me  that  an  election  may  be  held  in  that  state,  at 
which  to  elect  a  governor;  that  it  be  assumed  at  that 
election,  and  thenceforward,  that  the  constitution  ami 
laws  of  that  state,  as  before  the  rebellion,  are  in  full 
force,  except  that  the  constitution  is  so  modified  as 
to  declare  that  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude,  except  in  the  punishment  of 
crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  con- 
victed ;  that  the  general  assembly  may  make  such 
provisions  for  the  freed  people  as  shall  recognize  ami 
declare  their  permanent  freedom,  and  provide  for 
their  education,  and  which  may  yet  be. construed  as  a 
temporary  arrangement  suitable  to  their  condition,  as 
a  laboring,  landless,  and  homeless  class;  that  said 
election  shall  be  held  on  the  28th  of  March,  1864,  at 
all  the  usual  places  of  the  state,  or  all  such  as  voters 
may  attend  for  that  purpose;  that  the  voters  attend- 
ing at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  said  day  may 
choose  judges  and  clerks  of  election  for  such  purpose  ; 
that  all  persons  qualified  by  said   constitution   and 


848  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

laws,  and  taking  the  oath  presented  in  the  President's 
proclamation  of  December  8,  1863,  either  before  or  at 
the  election,  and  none  others,  may  be  voters ;  that 
each  set  of  judges  or  clerks  may  make  returns  di- 
rectly to  you  on  or  before  the day  of next; 

that  in  all  other  respects  said  election  may  be  con- 
ducted according  to  said  Constitution  and  laws;  that 
on  receipt  of  said  returns,  when  5,406  votes  shall 
have  been  cast,  you  can  receive  said  votes,  and  ascer- 
tain all  who  shall  thereby  appear  to  have  been 
elected ;  that,  on  the day  of next,  all  per- 
sons so  appearing  to  have  been  elected,  wrho  shall  ap- 
pear before  you  at  Little  Rock,  and  take  the  oath,  to 
be  by  you  severally  administered,  to  support  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and  said  modified  Con- 
stitution of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  may  be  declared 
by  you  qualified  and  empowered  to  immediately  enter 
upon  the  duties  of  the  offices  to  which  they  shall 
have  been  respectively  elected. 

You  will  please  order  an  election  to  take  place  on 
the  28th  of  March,  1864,  and  returns  to  be  made  in 
fifteen  days  thereafter.  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Governor  Hahn,  of  Louisiana,  March  13, 

1864. 

Dear  Sir: — I  congratulate  you  on  having  fixed 
your  name  in  history  as  the  first  free  state  governor 
of  Louisiana.  Now  you  are  about  to  have  a  conven- 
tion, which,  among  other  things,  will  define  the  elec- 
tive franchise,  I  barely  suggest,  for  your  private  con- 
sideration, whether,  some  of  the  colored  people  may 
not  be  let  in — as,  for  instance,  the  very  intelligent, 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  349 

and  especially  those  who  have  fought  gallantly  in  our 
ranks'? 

They  would  probably  help,  in  some  trying  time  to 
come,  to  keep  the  jewel  of  liberty  in  the  family  of 
freedom. 

But  this  is  only  a  suggestion,  not  to  the  public,  but 
to  you  alone.     Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Address  at  the  Patent  Office,  Washington,  March 

16,  18(34. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : — I  appear  to  say  but  a  word. 
This  extraordinary  war  in  which  we  are  engaged  falls 
heavily  upon  all  classes  of  people,  but  the  most 
heavily  upon  the  soldier. 

For  it  has  been  said,  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he 
give  for  his  life;  and  while  all  contribute  of  their  sub- 
stance, the  soldier  puts  his  life  at  stake,  and  often 
yields  it  up  in  his  country's  cause.  The  highest 
merit,  then,  is  due  to  the  soldier.  In  this  extra- 
ordinary war,  extraordinary  developments  have  man- 
ifested themselves,  such  as  have  not  been  seen  in 
former  wars;  and  among  these  manifestations  nothing 
has  been  more  remarkable  than  these  fairs  for  the  re- 
lief of  suffering:  soldiers  and  their  families.  And  the 
chief  agents  in  these  fairs  are  the  women  of  America. 
I  am  not  accustomed  to  the  use  of  the  language  of 
eulogy;  I  have  never  studied  the  art  of  paying  com- 
pliments to  women  ;  but  I  must  say,  that  if  all  that 
has  been  said  by  orators  and  poets  since  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  in  praise  of  women  were  applied 
to   the  women    of  America,  it  would   not   do   them 


350  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

justice  for  their  conduct  during  the  war.     I  will  close 
by  saying,  God  bless  the  women  of  America. 

Lincoln's  Description  of  Grant  to  a  Friend,  March, 

1864. 

Well,  I  hardly  know  what  to  think  of  him,  alto- 
gether. He  is  the  quietest  little  fellow  you  ever  saw. 
Why,  he  makes  the  least  fuss  of  any  man  you  ever 
knew.  I  believe  two  or  three  times  he  has  been  in 
this  room  a  minute  or  so  before  I  knew  he  was  here. 
Its  about  so  all  around.  The  only  evidence  you  have 
that  he's  in  any  place,  is  that  he  makes  things  giL 
Wherever  he  is  things  move.  Grant  is  the  first  gen- 
eral  I've  had.  lie's  a  general ;  I'll  tell  you  what  I 
mean.  You  know  how  its  been  with  all  the  rest. 
As  soon  as  I  put  a  man  in  command  of  the  army,  he'd 
come  to  me  with  a  plan  of  a  campaign,  and  about  as 
much  as  say,  "Now,  I  don't  believe  I  can  do  it,  but 
if  you  say  so,  I'll  try  it  on,"  and  so  put  the  responsi- 
bility of  success  or  failure  on  me.  They  all  wanted 
me  to  be  the  general.  Now,  it  isn't  so  with  Grant. 
He  hasn't  told  me  what  his  plans  are.  I  don't  know, 
and  I  don't  want  to  know.  I'm  glad  to  find  a  man 
that  can  .go  ahead  without  me.  You  see,  when  any 
of  the  rest  set  out  on  a  campaign,  they'd  look  over 
matters  and  pick  out  some  one  thing  they  were  short 
of,  and  they  knew  I  couldn't  give  'em,  and  tell  me 
they  couldn't  hope  to  win  unless  they  had  it;  and  it 
was  the  most  generally  cavalry.  Now,  when  Grant 
took  hold,  I  was  waiting  to  see  what  his  pet  impossi- 
bility would  be,  and  I  reckoned  it  wTould  be  cavalry. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  351 

as  a  matter  of  course,  for  we  hadn't  horses  enough  to 
mount  what  men  we  had. 

There  were  fifteen  thousand,  or  thereabouts,  up 
near  Harper's  Ferry,  and  no  horses  to  put  them  on. 

Well,  the  other  day  Grant  sends  to  me  about  those 
very  men,  just  as  I  expected,  but  what  he  wanted  to 
know  was  whether  he  should  make  infantry  of  'em  or 
discharge  'em.  He  doesn't  ask  impossibilities  of  me, 
and  he's  the  first  general  I've  had  that  didn't. 

To  Major-General  Meade. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  March  29,  1864. 
My  Dear  Sir: — Your  letter  to  Colonel  Townsend, 
inclosing  a  slip  from  the  Herald,  and  asking  a  court 
of  inquiry,  has  been  laid  before  me  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  with  the  request  that  I  would  consider  it. 
It  is  quite  natural  that  you  would  feel  some  sensi- 
bility on  the  subject;  yet  I  am  not  impressed,  nor 
do  I  think  the  country  is  impressed,  with  the  belief 
that  your  honor  demands,  or  the  public  interest  de- 
mands, such  an  inquiry.  The  country  knows  that  at 
all  events  you  have  done  good  service,  and  I  believe 
it  agrees  with  me  that  it  is  much  better  for  you  to 
be  engaged  in  trying  to  do  more,  than  to  be  diverted 
as  you  necessarily  would  be  by  a  court  of  inquiry. 
Yours,  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Mr.  A.  G.  Hodges,  of  Frankfort,  Ky.,  April  4, 

1804. 
I  did  understand,  however,  that  very  oath  to  pre- 
serve the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  my  ability  im- 
posed upon  me  the  duty  of  preserving,  by  every  in- 


352  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

dispensable  means,  that  government,  that  nation  of 
which  that  Constitution  was  the  organic  law.  Was 
it  possible  to  lose  the  nation  and  yet  preserve  the 
Constitution  ?  By  general  law,  life  and  limb  must 
be  protected,  yet  often  a  limb  must  be  amputated 
to  save  a  life,  but  a  life  is  never  wisely  given  to  save 
a  limb.  I  felt  that  measures,  otherwise  unconsti- 
tutional, might  become  lawful  by  becoming  indis- 
pensable to  the  preservation  of  the  Constitution 
through  the  preservation  of  the  nation.  Right  or 
wrong,  I  assumed  this  ground,  and  now  avow  it.  I 
could  not  feel  that,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  I  had 
even  tried  to  preserve  the  Constitution  if  to  preserve 
slavery  or  any  minor  matter,  I  should  permit  the 
wreck  of  government,  country,  and  Constitution  alto- 
gether. When,  early  in  the  war,  General  Fremont 
attempted  military  emancipation,  I  forbade  it,  be- 
cause I  did  not  then  think  it  an  indispensable 
necessity.  When,  a  little  later,  General  Cameron, 
then  Secretary  of  War,  suggested  the  arming  of  the 
blacks,  I  objected,  because  I  did  not  yet  think  it  an 
indispensable  necessity.  When,  still  later,  General 
Hunter  attempted  military  emancipation,  I  again  for- 
bade it,  because  I  did  not  yet  think  the  indispensa- 
ble necessity  had  come.  When,  in  March,  and  May, 
and  July,  1862,  I  made  earnest  and  successive  ap- 
peals to  the  border  states  to  favor  compensated 
emancipation,  I  believed  the  indispensable  necessity 
for  military  emancipation  and  arming  the  blacks 
would  come,  unless  averted  by  that  measure. 

They  declined  the   proposition,  and  I  was,  in  my 
best  judgment,  driven  to  the  alternative  of  either  sur- 


PEN   AND    VOICE.  353 

rendering  the  Union,  and  with  it  the  Constitution,  or 

of  laying  strong  hand  upon  the  colored  element.  I 
chose  the  latter.  In  choosing  it,  I  hoped  for  greater 
gain  than  loss,  but  of  this  I  was  not  entirely  con- 
fident. More  than  a  year  of  trial  now  shows  no  loss 
by  it  in  our  foreign  relations,  none  in  our  home  pop- 
ular sentiment,  none  in  our  white  military  force,  no 
loss  by  it  any  how  or  anywhere.  On  the  contrary, 
.it  shows  a  gain  of  quite  a  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand soldiers,  seamen,  and  laborers.  These  are  pal- 
pable facts,  about  which,  as  facts,  there  can  be  no 
caviling.  We  have  the  men,  and  we  could  not  have 
had  them  without  the  measure.  And  now  let  any 
Union  man  who  complains  of  this  measure  test 
himself  by  writing  down  in  one  line  that  he  is  for 
subduing  the  rebellion  by  force  of  arms,  and  in  the 
next  that  he  is  for  taking  three  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  men  from  the  Union  side,  and  placing  them 
where  they  would  be  best  for  the  measure  he  con- 
demns. If  he  can  not  face  his  case  so  stated  it  is 
only  because  he  can  not  face  the  truth. 

I  add  a  word  which  was  not  in  the  verbal  conversa- 
tion. In  telling  this  tale,  I  attempt  no  compliment 
to  my  own  sagacity.  I  claim  not  to  have  controlled 
events,  but  confess  plainly  that  events  have  controlled 
me.  Now,  at  the  end  of  three  years'  struggle,  the 
nation's  condition  is  not  what  either  party  or  any 
man  devised  or  expected. 

God  alone  can  claim    it,     Whither   it   is   tending 
seems   plain.     If  God    now  wills   the  removal  of  a 
great  wrong,  and  wills  also  that  we  of  the  North,  as 
30 


354  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

well  as  youof  the  South,  shall  pay  fairly  for  our 
complicity  in  that  wrong,  impartial  history  will  find 
therein  new  causes  to  attest  and  revere  the  justice 
and  goodness  of  God. 

Yours,  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Words  to  Gen.  Grant,  on  April  9,  1864. 
The  Nation's  appreciation  of  what  you  have  done, 
and  its  reliance  upon  you  for  what  remains  to  be 
done  in  the  existing  great  struggle,  are  now  presented 
with  this  commission  constituting  you  lieutenant- 
general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States.  With  this 
high  honor  devolves  upon  you  also  a  corresponding 
responsibility.  As  the  country  herein  trusts  you,  so, 
under  God,  it  will  sustain  you.  I  scarcely  need  to 
add  that  with  what  I  here  speak  for  the  Nation  goes 
my  own  hearty  personal  concurrence. 

Speech  at  the  Baltimore  Fair,  April  18,  1864. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — Calling  it  to  mind  that 
we  are  in  Baltimore,  we  can  not  fail  to  note  that  the 
world  moves.  Looking  upon  the  many  people  I  see 
assembled  here  to  serve  as  they  best  may  the  soldiers 
of  the  Union,  it  occurs  to  me  that  three  years  ago 
those  soldiers  could  not  pass  through  Baltimore.  I 
would  say,  blessings  upon  the  men  who  have  wrought 
these  changes,  and  the  ladies  who  have  assisted  them. 
This  change  which  has  taken  place  in  Baltimore  is 
part  only  of  a  far  wider  change  which  has  taken 
place  all  over  the  country. 

When  the  war  commenced,  three  years  ago,  no  one 
expected  that  it  would  last  this  long,  and  no  one  sup- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  355 

posed  that  the  institution  of  slavery  would  be  ma- 
terially affected  by  it.  But  here  we  are.  The  war  is 
not  yet  ended,  and  slavery  has  been  very  materially 
affected  or  interfered  with.  So  true  is  it  that  man 
proposes  and  God  disposes. 

The  world  is  in  want  of  a  good  definition  of  the 
word  liberty.  We  all  declare  ourselves  to  be  for  lib- 
erty, but  we  do  not  all  mean  the  same  thing.  Some 
mean  that  a  man  can  do  as  he  pleases  with  himself 
and  his  property.  With  others  it  means  that  some 
men  can  do  as  they  please  with  other  men  and  other 
men's  labor.  Each  of  these  things  are  called  liberty, 
although  they  arc  entirely  different.  To  give  an  il- 
lustration :  A  shepherd  drives  the  wolf  from  the 
throat  of  his  sheep  when  attacked  by  him,  and  the 
sheep  of  course  thanks  the  shepherd  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  his  life  ;  but  the  wolf  denounces  him  as  de- 
spoiling the  sheep  of  his  liberty,  especially  if  it  be  a 
black  sheep. 

This  same  difference  of  opinion  prevails  among 
some  of  the  people  of  the  north.  But  the  people  of 
Maryland  have  recently  been  doing  something  to 
properly  define  the  meaning  of  the  word,  and  I 
thank  them  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  for  what 
they  have  done  and  are.  doing. 

Tt  is  not  very  becoming  I'm-  a  president  to  make  a 
speech  of  great  length,  but  there  is  a  painful  rumor 
afloat  in  the  country,  in  reference  to  which  a  few 
words  shall  be  said.  It  is  reported  that  there  has 
been  a  wanton  massacre  of  some  hundreds  of  col- 
ored soldiers  at  Fort  Pillow,  Tennessee,  during  a  re- 
cent engagement  there,  and  he  thought  it  fit  to  ex- 


356  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

plaiu  some  facts  in  relation  to  the  affair.  It  is  said 
by  some  persons  that  the  government  is  not,  in  this 
matter,  doing  its  duty.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  war,  it  was  doubtful  whether  black  men  would 
be  used  as  soldiers  or  not.  The  matter  was  examined 
into  very  carefully,  and  after  mature  deliberation,  the 
whole  matter  resting,  as  it  were,  with  himself,  he,  in 
his  judgment,  decided  that  they  should.  He  was  re- 
sponsible for  the  act  to  the  American  people,  to  a 
Christian  nation,  to  the  future  historian,  and,  above 
all,  to  his  God,  to  whom  he  would  have  one  day  to 
render  an  account  of  his  stewardship.  He  would 
now  say  that  in  his  opinion  the  black  soldier  should 
have  the  same  protection  as  the  white  soldier,  and 
he  would  have  it. 

It  was  an  error  to  say  that  the  government  was 
not  acting  in  the  matter.  The  government  has  no 
direct  evidence  to  confirm  the  reports  in  existence 
relative  to  this  massacre,  \>ut  he  himself  believed  the 
facts  in  relation  to  it  to  be  as  stated.  When  the  gov- 
ernment does  know  the  facts  from  official  sources, 
and  they  prove  to  substantiate  the  reports,  retribu- 
tion will  be  surely  given.  What  is  reported,  he 
thought,  would  make  a  clear  case.  If  it  is  not  true, 
then  all  such  stories  are  to  be  considered  as  false. 
If  proved  true,  when  the  matter  is  thoroughly  exam- 
ined, what  shape  is  to  be  given  to  the  retribution? 
Can  we  take  the  man  who  was  captured  at  Vicks- 
burg,  and  shoot  him  for  the  victim  of  this  massacre? 
If  it  should  happen  that  it  was  the  act  of  only  one 
man,  what  course  is  to  be  pursued  then  ?  It  was  a 
matter  requiring  careful   examination   and  delibera- 


PEN   AND   VOICE.  357 

tion,  and  if  it  should  be  substantiated  by  sufficient 
evidence,  all  might  rest  assured  that  retribution 
would  be  had. 

Message  to  Congress. 

April  28,  1864. 
To  the  Honorable  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives:— I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  an 
address  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
through  him  to  both  Houses  of  Congress,  on  the 
condition  of  the  people  of  East  Tennessee,  and 
asking  their  attention  to  the  necessity  for  some 
action  on  the  part  of  the  government  for  their  re- 
lief, and  which  address  is  presented  by  the  committee 
or  organization  called  "  The  East  Tennessee  Relief 
Association."  Deeply  commiserating  the  condition 
of  those  most  loyal  people,  I  am  unprepared  to 
make  any  specific  recommendation  for  their  relief. 
The  military  is  doing,  and  will  continue  to  do,  the 
best  for  them  within  its  power.  Their  address  repre- 
sents that  the  construction  of  a  direct  railroad  com- 
munication between  Knoxville  and  Cincinnati,  by 
way  of  Central  Kentucky,  would  be  of  great  conse- 
quence in  the  present  emergency.  It  may  be  re- 
membered that  in  my  annual  message  of  December, 
1861,  such  railroad  construction  was  recommended. 
I  now  add  that,  with  the  hearty  concurrence  of  Con- 
gress, I  would  yet  be  pleased  to  construct  the  road, 
both  for  the  relief  of  those  people  and  for  its  con- 
tinuing military  importance.       Abraham  Lincoln. 


358  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

To  the  House  of  Representatives. 

April  28,  1864. 

In  obedience  to  the  resolution  of  your  honorable 
body,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  returned,  I  have 
the  honor  to  make  the  following  brief  statement, 
which  is  believed  to  contain  the  information  sought  : 

Prior  to  and  at  the  meeting  of  the  present  Con- 
gress, Robert  C.  Schenck,  of  Ohio,  and  Frank  P. 
Blair,  Jr.,  of  Missouri,  members-elect  thereto,  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  held  commissions 
from  the  executive  as  major-generals  in  the  volunteer 
army. 

General  Schenck  tendered  the  resignation  of  his 
said  commission  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  at  the  assembling  thereof,  upon  the 
distinct  verbal  understanding  with  the  Secretary  of 
War  and  the  Executive  that  he  might  at  any  time 
during  the  session,  at  his  own  pleasure,  withdraw  said 
resignation  and  return  to  the  field. 

General  Blair  was,  by  temporary  agreement  of 
General  Sherman  in  command  of  a  corps  through  the 
battles  in  front  of  Chattanooga,  and  in  marching  to 
the  relief  of  Ivnoxville,  which  occurred  in  the  latter 
days  of  December  last,  and  of  course  was  not  present 
at  the  assembling  of  Congress.  When  he  subse- 
quently arrived  here  he  sought  and  was  allowed  by 
the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Executive  the  same 
conditions  and  promise  as  was  allowed  and  made  to 
General  Schenck. 

General  Schenck  has  not  applied  to  withdraw  his 
resignation  ;  but  when  General  Grant  was  made  lieu- 
tenant-general,   producing   some    changes    of    com- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  359 

manders,  General  Blair  sought  to  be  assigned  to  the 
command  of  a  corps.  This  was  made  known  to 
General  Grant  and  General  Sherman,  and  assented  to 
by  them,  and  the  particular  corps  for  him  was  desig- 
nated. This  was  all  arranged  and  understood,  as 
now  remembered,  so  much  as  a  month  ago;  but  the 
formal  withdrawal  of  General  Blair's  resignation, 
and  the  reissuing  of  the  order  assigning  him  to  the 
command  of  a  corps,  were  not  consummated  at  the 
War  Department  until  last  week,  perhaps  on  the  23d 
of  April  instant. 

As  a  summary  of  the  whole  it  may  be  stated  that 
General  Blair  holds  no  military  commission  or  ap- 
pointment other  than  as  herein  stated,  and  that  it  is 
believed  he  is  now  acting  as  major-general  upon  the 
assumed  validity  of  the  commission  herein  stated  and 
not  otherwise. 

There  are  some  letters,  notes,  telegrams,  orders, 
entries,  and  perhaps  other  documents,  in  connection 
with  the  subject,  which  it  is  believed  would  throw  no 
additional  light  upon  it,  but  which  will  be  cheerfully 
furnished  if  desired.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  General  Grant,  April  30,  18(34. 
^s'ot  expecting  to  see  you  before  the  spring  cam- 
paign opens,  I  wish  to  express  in  this  way  my  entire 
satisfaction  with  what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time, 
so  far  as  I  understand  it.  The  particulars  of  your 
plans  I  neither  know,  nor  seek  to  know.  You  are 
vigilant  and  self-reliant ;  and  pleased  with  this,  I 
wish  not  to  obtrude  any  restraints  or  constraints  upon 
you.     While  ^  am  veiT  anxious  that  any  great  dis- 


360  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

aster,  or  capture  of  our  men  in  great  numbers,  shall 
be  avoided,  I  know  that  these  points  are  less  likely 
to  escape  your  attention  than  they  would  mine.  If 
there  be  any  thing  wanting  which  is  within  my  power 
to  give,  do  not  fail  to  let  me  know  it. 

And  now,  with  a  brave  army  and  a  just  cause,  may 
God  sustain  you.     Yours,  very  truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 

President's   Recommend   for    Prayer    and    Thanks- 

giving. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  May  9,  1864. 
To  the  Friends  of  Union  and  Liberty  .-—Enough  is 
known  of  army  operations  within  the  last  rive  days 
to  claim  our  special  gratitude  to  God.  While  what 
remains  undone  demands  our  most  serious  prayers  to 
and  reliance  upon  Him  (without  whom  all  human 
effort  is  vain),  I  recommend  that  all  patriots,  at  their 
homes,  at  their  places  of  public  worship,  and  wher- 
ever they  may  be,  unite  in  common  thanksgiving  and 
prayer  to  Almighty  God.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The   President's   Idea    of    Democratic    Policy    and 

Strategy. 

May,  1864. 

The  slightest  knowledge  of  arithmetic  will  prove 
to  any  man  that  the  rebel  armies  can  not  be  destroyed 
by  Democratic  strategy.  It  would  sacrifice  all  the 
white  men  of  the  North  to  do  it.  There  are  now  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  able-bodied  colored  men,  most  of  them  un- 
der arms,  defending  and  acquiring  Union  territory. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  361 

The  Democratic  strategy  demands  that  these  forces 
be  disbanded,  and  that  the  masters  be  conciliated  by 
restoring  them  to  slavery.  The  black  men  who  now 
assist  Dnion  prisoners  to  escape  are  to  be  converted 
into  our  enemies,  in  the  vain  hope  of  gaining  the 
good  will  of  their  masters.  We  shall  have  to  tight 
two  nations  instead  of  one. 

You  can  not  conciliate  the  South  if  you  guarantee 
ultimate  success,  and  the  experiences  of  the  present 
war  prove  their  success  is  inevitable  if  you  fling  the 
compulsory  labor  of  four  millions  of  black  men  into 
their  side  of  the  scale. 

"Will  you  give  our  enemies  such  military  advantages 
as  iusure  success,  and  then  depend  upon  coaxing, 
flattery,  and  concession  to  get  them  back  into  the 
Union. 

Abandon  all  the  forts  now  garrisoned  by  black 
men,  take  two  hundred  thousand  men  from  our  side, 
and  put  them  in  the  battle  Held  or  corn  field  against 
us,  and  we  would  be  compelled  to  abandon  the  war 
in  three  weeks.  We  have  to  hold  territory  in  in- 
clement and  sickly  places.  Where  are  the  Democrats 
to  do  this?  It  was  a  free  fight,  and  the  field  was 
open  to  the  War  Democrats  to  put  down  this  rebel- 
lion by  fighting  against  both  the  master  and  slave 
long  before  the  present  policy  was  inaugurated. 
There  have  been  men  base  enough  to  propose  to  me 
to  return  to  slavery  our  black  warriors  of  Port  Hud- 
son and  Olustee,  and  thus  win  the  respect  of  the 
masters  they  fought,  Should  I  do  so,  I  should  de- 
serve to  be  damned  in  time  and  eternity. 
31 


362  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

Come  what  will,  I  will  keep  my  faith  with  friend 
and  foe.  My  enemies  pretend  I  am  now  carrying  on 
the  war  for  the  sole  purpose  of  abolition.  So  long 
as  I  am  president  it  shall  he  carried  on  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  restoring  the  Union.  But  no  human 
power  can  subdue  this  rebellion  without  the  use  of 
the  emancipation  policy,  and  every  other  policy  cal- 
culated to  weaken  the  moral  and  physical  forces  of 
the  rebellion. 

Freedom  has  given  us  two  hundred  thousand  men, 
raised  on  southern  soil.  It  w  ill  s;ive  us  more  yet. 
Just  so  much  it  has  abstracted  from  the  enemy,  and 
instead  of  checking  the  South,  there  are  evidences  of 
a  fraternal  feeling  growing  up  between  our  men  and 
the  rank  and  file  of  the  rebel  soldiers.  Let  my  ene- 
mies  prove  to  the  country  that  the  destruction  of 
slavery  is  not  necessary  to  the  restoration  of  the 
Union.     I  will  abide  the  issue. 

Response  to  Serenade  at  Washington,  May  13,  1864. 

Fellow- Citizens : — I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you 
for  the  compliment  of  this  call,  though  I  apprehend 
it  is  owing  more  to  the  good  news  received  to-day 
from  the  army,  than  to  a  desire  to  see  me. 

I  am  indeed  very  grateful  to  the  brave  men  who 
have  been  struggling  with  the  enemy  in  the  field,  to 
their  noble  commanders  who  have  directed  them,  and 
especially  to  our  Maker. 

Our  commanders  are  following  up  their  victories 
resolutely  and  successfully. 

I  think,  without  knowing  the  particulars  of  the 
plans  of  General  Grant,  that  what  has  been  accom- 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  303 

plished  is  of  more  importance  than  at  iirst  appears. 
I  believe,  I  know  (and  am  especially  grateful  to 
know),  that  General  Grant  has  not  been  jostled  in 
his  purposes,  that  he  has  made  all  his  points,  and  to- 
day lie  is  on  his  line  as  he  purposed  before  he  moved 
his  armies. 

I  will  volunteer  to  say  that  I  am  very  glad  at  what 
has  happened,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  still  to  be 
done.  While  we  are  grateful  to  all  the  brave  men 
and  officers  for  the  events  of  the  past  few  days,  we 
should,  above  all,  be  very  grateful  to  Almighty  God, 
who  gives  us  victory 

There  is  enough  yet  before  us  requiring  all  loyal 
men  and  patriots  to  perform  their  share  of  the  labor 
and  follow  the  example  of  the  modest  general  at  the 
head  of  our  armies,  and  sink  all  personal  considera- 
tions for  the  sake  of  the  country. 

I  commend  you  to  keep  yourselves  in  the  same 
tranquil  mood  that  is  characteristic  of  that  brave  and 
loyal  man.  ]  have  said  more  than  T  expected  when  1 
came  before  you.  Repeatingmy  thanks  for  this  call, 
I  bid  you  good-bye. 

To  a  New  York  Meeting,  June  3,  1864. 

Hon.  F.  A.  Conckling,  and  others:  Gentlemen — 
Your  letter,  inviting  me  to  be  present  at  a  mass  meet- 
ing of  loyal  citizens  to  be  held  at  Xew  York,  on  the 
4th  inst.,  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  gratitude  to 
Lieutenant-Gfeneral  Grant  for  his  signal  services,  was 
received  yesterday.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  at- 
tend.    I  approve,  nevertheless,  whatever  may  tend  to 


364  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

strengthen  and  sustain  General  Grant  and  the  noble 
armies  now  under  his  direction. 

My  previous  high  estimate  of  General  Grant  has 
been  maintained  and  heightened  by  what  has  occurred 
in  the  remarkable  campaign  he  is  now  conducting. 
While  the  magnitude  and  difficulty  of  the  task  before 
him  do  not  prove  less  than  I  expected,  he  and  his 
brave  soldiers  are  now  in  the  midst  of  their  great 
trial,  and  I  trust  at  your  meeting  you  will  so  shape 
your  good  words  that  they  may  turn  to  men  and  guns 
moving  to  his  and  their  support. 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Speech  Delivered  June  9,  18G4,  to  Committee  In- 
forming Lincoln  of  his  Renomination. 
Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee: — 
I  will  neither  conceal  my  gratification,  nor  restrain 
the  expression  of  my  gratitude,  that  the  Union  peo- 
ple, through  their  convention,  in  the  continued  effort 
to  save  and  advance  the  nation,  have  deemed  me  not 
unworthy  to  remain  in  my  present  position. 

I  know  no  reason  to  doubt  that  I  shall  accept  the 
nomination  tendered,  and  yet,  perhaps  I  should  not 
declare  definitely  before  reading  and  considering  what 
is  called  the  platform.  1  will  say  now,  however,  that 
I  approve  the  declaration  in  favor  of  so  amending  the 
Constitution  as  to  prohibit  slavery  throughout  the 
nation.  When  the  people  in  revolt,  with  the  hundred 
days  explicit  notice  that  they  could  within  those  days 
resume  their  allegiance  without  the  overthrow  of 
their  institutions,  and  that  they  could  not  resume  it 
afterward,  elected  to  stand  out,  such  an  amendment 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  365 

of  the  Constitution  as  is  now  proposed  became  a  fit- 
ting and  necessary  condition  to  the  final  success  of 
the  Union  cause.  Such  alone  can  meet  and  cover  all 
cavils.  I  now  perceive  its  importance  and  embrace  it. 
In  the  joint  names  of  Liberty  and  Union,  let  us  labor 
to  give  legal  form  and  practical  eftbrt. 

Speech  to  the  National  Union  League,  June  9,  1864. 

Gentlemen: — I  can  only  say  in  response  to  the  re- 
marks of  your  chairman,  that  I  am  very  grateful  for 
the  renewed  confidence  which  has  been  accorded  to 
me,  both  by  the  convention  and  the  National  League. 
I  am  not  insensible  at  all  to  the  personal  compliment 
there  is  in  this,  yet  I  do  not  allow  myself  to  believe 
that  any  but  a  small  portion  of  it  is  to  be  appropri- 
ated as  a  personal  compliment  to  me.  The  conven- 
tion and  the  nation,  I  am  assured,  are  alike  animated 
by  a  higher  view  of  the  interests  of  the  country,  for 
the  present  and  the  great  future,  and  the  part  I  am 
entitled  to  appropriate  as  a  compliment,  is  only  that 
part  which  I  may  lay  hold  of  as  being  the  opinion  of 
the  convention  and  of  the  league,  that  I  am  not  en- 
tirely unworthy  to  be  intrusted  with  the  place  I  have 
occupied  for  the  last  three  years. 

I  have  not  permitted  myself,  gentlemen,  to  conclude 
that  I  am  the  best  man  in  the  country  ;  but  I  am  re- 
minded in  this  connection  of  a  story  of  an  old  Dutch 
fanner,  who  remarked  to  a  companion  once  that  u  it 
was  not  best  to  swap  horse  when  crossing  a  stream." 


366  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Speech  at  a  Philadelphia  Fair,  June  16,  1864. 

I  suppose  that  this  toast  was  intended  to  open  the 
way  for  me  to  say  something. 

War,  at  the  best,  is  terrible,  and  this  war  of  ours,  in 
its  magnitude  and  in  its  duration,  is  one  of  the  most 
terrible.  It  has  deranged  business,  totally  in  many 
localities,  and  partially  in  all  localities.  It  has  de- 
stroyed property  and  ruined  homes;  it  has  produced 
a  national  debt  and  taxation  unprecedented,  at  least 
in  this  country  ;  it  has  carried  mourning  to  almost 
every  home,  until  it  can  almost  be  said  that  the 
"heavens  are  hung  in  black." 

Yet  the  war  continues,  and  several  relieving  coin- 
cidents have  accompanied  it  from  the  very  beginning 
which  have  not  been  known,  as  I  understand  or  have 
any  knowledge  of,  in  any  former  wars  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  The  Sanitary  Commission,  with  all  its 
benevolent  labors;  the  Christian  Commission,  with 
all  its  Christian  and  benevolent  labors;  and  the  vari- 
ous places,  arrangements,  so  to  speak,  and  institu- 
tions, have  contributed  to  the  comfort  and  relief  of 
the  soldiers.  You  have  two  of  these  places  in  this 
city — the  Cooper  Shop  and  Union  Volunteer  Re- 
freshment Saloons.  And,  lastly,  these  fairs,  which  I 
believe  began  only  in  last  August  if  I  mistake  not 
in  Chicago,  then  at  Boston,  at  Cincinnati,  Brooklyn, 
JS"ew  York,  at  Baltimore,  and  those  at  present  held 
at  St.  Louis,  Pittsburg  and  Philadelphia. 

The  motive  and  object  that  lie  at  the  bottom  of  all 
these  are  most  worthy ;  for,  say  what  you  will,  after 
all, the  most  is  due  to  the  soldier,  who  takes  his  life 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  367 

in  his  hands  and  goes  to  tight  the  battles  of  his  conn- 
try.  In  what  is  contributed  to  bis  comfort  when  he 
passes  to  and  fro,  and  in  what  is  contributed  to  him 
when  he  is  sick  and  wounded,  in  whatever  shape  it 
comes,  whether  from  the  fair  and  tender  band  of 
woman  or  from  any  other  source,  it  is  much,  very 
much.  But  I  think  that  there  is  still  that  which  is 
of  as  much  value  to  him  in  the  continual  reminders 
he  sees  in  the  newspapers,  that  while  be  is  absent  he 
is  yet  remembered  by  the  loved  ones  at  home. 

Another  view  of  these  various  institutions,  if  I 
may  so  call  them,  is  worthy  of  consideration,  I  think. 
They  are  voluntary  contributions,  given  zealously 
and  earnestly,  on  top  of  all  the  disturbances  of  busi- 
ness, of  all  the  disorders,  of  all  the  taxation,  and  of 
all  the  burdens  that  the  war  has  imposed  upon  as, 
giving  proof  that  the  national  resources  are  not  at  all 
exhausted,  and  that  the  natural  spirit  of  patriotism  is 
even  firmer  and  stronger  than  at  the  commencement 
of  the  war. 

It  is  a  pertinent  question,  often  asked  in  the  mind 
privately,  and  from  one  to  the  other,  When  is  the 
war  to  end?  Surely  I  feel  as  deep  an  interest  in  this 
question  as  any  other  can,  but  I  do  not  wish  to  name 
a  day,  a  month,  or  a  year,  when  it  is  to  end.  I  do 
not  wish  to  run  any  risk  of  seeing  the  time  come, 
without  our  being;  ready  for  the  end,  for  fear  of  dis- 
appointment  because  the  time  had  come  and  not  the 
end.  We  accepted  this  war  for  an  object,  a  worthy 
object,  and  the  war  will  end  when  that  object  is  at- 
tained. Under  God,  I  hope  it  never  will  end  until 
that  time.     Speaking  of  the  present  campaign,  Gen- 


368  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

eral  Grant  is  reported  to  have  said,  u  I  am  going 
through  on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer.''  This 
war  has  taken  three  years;  it  was  begun  or  accepted 
upon  the  line  of  restoring  the  national  authority  over 
the  whole  national  domain,  and  for  the  American 
people,  as  far  as  any  knowledge  enables  me  to  speak, 
I  say  we  are  going  through  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
three  years  more. 

My  friends,  I  did  not  know  but  I  might  be  called 
upon  to  say  a  few  words  before  I  got  away  from  hero, 
but  I  did  not  know  it  was  coming  just  here.  I  have 
never  been  in  the  habit  of  making  predictions  in  re- 
gard to  the  war,  but  I  am  almost  tempted  to  make 
one.  If  I  were  to  hazard  it,  it  is  this :  that  Grant  is 
this  evening,  with  General  Meade  and  General  Han- 
cock, and  the  brave  officers  and  soldiers  with  him,  in 
a  position  from  whence  he  will  never  be  dislodged 
until  Richmond  is  taken,  and  I  have  but  one  single 
proposition  to  put  now,  and  perhaps  I  can  best  put  it 
in  the  form  of  an  interrogative.  If  I  shall  discover 
that  General  Grant  and  the  noble  officers  and  men 
under  him  can  be  greatly  facilitated  in  their  work  by 
a  sudden  pouring  forward  of  men  and  assistance,  will 
you  give  them  to  me  ?  Are  you  ready  to  march  ? 
[Cries  of  "Yes!"  Then,  I  say,  stand  ready,  for  I 
am  watching  for  the  chance.  I  thank  you,  gentle- 
men. 

To  Hon.  William  Dennison  and  Others,  a  Commit- 
tee of  the  Union  National  Convention. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  June  27, 1864. 
Gentlemen  : — Your  letter  of  the  14th  inst.,  formally 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  369 

notifying  me  that  I  have  been  nominated  by  the  con- 
vention yon  represent  for  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States  for  tour  years  from  the  4th  of  March 
next,  lias  been  received.  The  nomination  is  grate- 
fully accepted,  as  the  resolutions  of  the  convention, 
called  the  platform,  are  heartily  approved. 

While  the  resolution  in  regard  to  the  supplanting 
of  republican  government  upon  the  western  continent 
is  fully  concurred  in,  there  might  be  misunderstand- 
ing were  I  not  to  say  that  the  position  of  the  govern- 
ment in  relation  to  the  action  of  France  in  Mexico, 
as  assumed  through  the  State  Department  and  in- 
dorsed by  the  convention  among  the  measures  and 
acts  of  the  Executive,  will  be  faithfully  maintained 
so  long  as  tlic  state  of  facts  shall  leave  that  position 
pertinent  and  applicable.  I  am  especially  gratified 
that  the  soldiers  and  seamen  were  not  forgotten  by 
the  convention,  as  they  forever  must  and  will  be  re- 
membered by  the  grateful  country  for  whose  salva- 
tion they  devote  their  lives. 

Thanking  you  for  the  kind  and  complimentary 
terms  in  which  you  have  communicated  the  nomina- 
tion, and  other  proceedings  of  the  convention,  I  sub- 
scribe myself,  Your  obedient  servant, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Lincoln  to  General  Grant. 

July  10,  1864,  2:30  P.  M. 

Your   dispatch  to    General    Halleck,   referring   to 

what  I  may  think  in  the  present  emergency,  is  shown 

me.    General  Halleck  says  we  have  no  force  here  fit  to 

go  to  the  field.    He  thinks  that  with  the  hundred-day 


370  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

men  and  invalids  we  have  here,  we  can  defend  Wash- 
ington, and,  scarcely,  Baltimore.  Besides  these,  there 
are  about  eight  thousand,  not  very  reliable,  under 
Howe  at  Harper's  Ferry,  with  Hunter  approaching 
that  point  very  slowly,  with  what  number  I  suppose 
vou  know  better  than  we.  Wallace,  with  some  odds 
anil  ends,  and  part  of  what  came  up  with  Ricketts, 
was  so  badly  beaten  yesterday  at  Monocacy,  that 
what  is  left  can  attempt  no  more  than  to  defend  Bal- 
timore. What  we  shall  get  in  from  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York  will  scarcely  be  worth  counting,  I 
fear.  Now  what  I  think  is,  that  you  should  provide 
to  retain  your  hold  where  you  are  certainly;  and 
bring  the  rest  with  you, personally,  and  make  a  vigorous 
effort  to  defeat  the  enemy's  force  in  this  vicinity.  I 
think  there  is  really  a  fair  chance  to  do  this  if  the 
movement  is  prompt.  This  is  what  I  think — upon 
your  suggestion — and  is  not  an  order.     A.  Lincoln. 

To  Whom  it  may  Concern. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C,  July  18,  1864. 

Any  proposition  which  embraces  the  restoration  of 
peace,  the  integrity  of  the  whole  Union,  and  the 
abandonment  of  slavery,  and  which  comes  by  and 
with  an  authority  that  can  control  the  armies  now  at 
war  against  the  United  States,  will  be  received  and 
considered  by  the  Executive  Government  of  the 
United  States,  and  will  be  met  by  liberal  terms  on 
other  substantial  and  collateral  points,  and  the  bearer 
or  bearers  thereof  shall  have  safe  conduct  both  ways. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  371 

To  Lieutenant-General  Grant,  City  Point,  Va. 
Washington,  D.  C,  Aug.  3,  1864,  Cypher,  6  P.M. 

I  have  seen  your  dispatch  in  which  you  say — "I 
want  Sheridan  put  in  command  of  all  the  troops  in 
the  field,  with  instructions  to  put  himself  south  of  the 
enemy,  and  follow  him  to  the  death.  Wherever  the 
enemy  goes,  let  the  troops  go  also."  This,  1  think,  is 
exactly  right,  as  to  how  our  forces  should  move.  But 
please  look  over  the  dispatches  you  may  have  received 
from  here,  even  since  you  made  that  order,  and  dis- 
cover, if  you  can,  that  there  is  any  idea  in  the  head  of 
any  one  here,  of  "putting  our  army  south  of  the  en- 
emy" or  of  "  following  him  to  the  death  "  in  any  di- 
rection. I  repeat  to  you  it  will  neither  be  done  nor 
attempted  unless  you  watch  it  every  day,  and  hour, 
and  force  it.  A.  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln's  Reply  to  Rev.  Dr.  Pohlman,  of 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  and  others  of  the  General  Synod 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Lancaster. 

August,  1864. 
Gentlemen : — I  welcome  here  the  representatives  of 
the  Evangelical  Lutherans  of  the  United  States.  I 
accept  with  gratitude  their  assurances  of  the  sympa- 
thy and  support  of  that  enlightened,  influential  and 
loyal  class  of  my  fellow-citizens  in  an  important 
crisis,  which  involves,  in  my  judgment,  not  only  the 
civil  and  religious  liberties  of  our  own  dear  laud,  but 
in  a  large  degree  the  civil  and  religious  liberties  of 
mankind  in  many  countries,  and  through  many  ages. 
You  well  know,  gentlemen,  and  the  world  knows, 
how  reluctantly  I  accepted  this  issue  of  battle  forced 


372  .ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

upon  me,  on  my  advent  to  this  place,  by  the  internal 
enemies  of  our  country.  You  all  know,  the  world 
knows  the  forces  and  the  resources  the  public  agents 
have  brought  into  employment  to  sustain  a  govern- 
ment against  which  there  has  been  brought  not  one 
complaint  of  real  injury  committed  against  society  at 
home  or  abroad.  You  all  may  recollect  that  in  tak- 
ing up  the  sword  thus  forced  into  our  hands,  this 
government  appealed  to  the  prayers  of  the  pioua  and 
the  good,  and  declared  that  it  placed  its  whole  de- 
pendence upon  the  favor  of  God.  I  now  humbly  and 
reverently,  in  your  presence,  reiterate  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  that  dependence,  not  doubting  that  if  it 
shall  please  the  Divine  Being  who  determines  the  des- 
tinies of  nations,  that  this  shall  remain  a  united  peo- 
ple, they  will,  humbly  seeking  the  Divine  guidance, 
make  their  prolonged  national  existence  a  source  of 
new  benefits  to  themselves  and  their  successors,  and 
to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  mankind. 

Hon.  Henry  J.  Raymond. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  August  15,  1864. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  proposed  to  Mr.  Greeley 
that  the  Niagara  correspondence  be  published,  sup- 
pressing only  the  parts  of  his  letters  over  which  the 
red  pencil  is  drawn  in  the  copy  which  I  herewith 
send. 

He  declines  giving  his  consent  to  the  publication  of 
his  letters  unless  these  parts  be  published  with  the 
rest. 

I  have  concluded  that  it  is  better  for  me  to  submit, 
for  the  time,  to  the  consequences  of  the  false  position 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  373 

in  which  I  consider  he  has  placed  me,  than  to  submit 
the  country  to  the  consequences  of  publishing  these 
discouraging  and   injurious  [tarts. 

I  send  you  this,  and  the  accompanying  copy,  not 
for  publication,  but  merely  to  explain  to  you,  and 
that  you  may  preserve  them  until  their  proper  lime 
shall  come.     Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Tender  of  National  Thanks  to  Farragut  and  Canby. 

Executive  Mansion,  September  3,  18(14. 
The  national  thanks  are  tendered  by  the  President 
to  Admiral  Farragut  and  Major-General  Canby,  for 
the  skill  and  harmony  with  which  the  recent  opera- 
tions in  Mobile  Harbor  and  against  Fort  Powell,  Fort 
Gaines,  and  Fort  Morgan  were  planned  and  carried 
into  execution.  Also  to  Admiral  Farragut  and 
Major-General  Granger,  under  whose  immediate  com- 
mand they  were  conducted,  and  to  the  gallant  com- 
manders on  sea  and  land,  and  to  the  sailors  and  sol- 
diers engaged  in  the  operations,  for  their  energy  and 
courage,  which,  under  the  blessing  of  Providence, 
have  been  crowned  with  brilliant  success,  and  have 
won  for  them  the  applause  and  thanks  of  the  nation. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Call  for  Thanksgiving. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington  City,  Sept.  3,  1864. 
The  signal  success  that  Divine  Providence  has  re- 
cently vouchsafed  to  the  operations  of  the  United 
States  army  and  navy  in  the  harbor  of  Mobile,  and 
the  reduction  of  Forts  Powell,  Gaines,  and  Morgan, 
and  the  glorious   achievements  of  the  army    under 


374  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Major-General  Sherman  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  re- 
sulting in  the  capture  of  the  city  of  Atlanta,  call  for 
devout  acknowledgments  to  the  Supreme  Being,  in 
whose  hands  are  the  destinies  of  nations.  It  is  there- 
fore requested  that  on  next  Sunday,  in  all  places  of 
public  worship  in  the  United  States,  thanksgiving  be 
offered  to  Him  for  His  mercy  in  preserving  our  na- 
tional existence,  against  the  insurgent,  rebels  who  bo 
long  have  been  waging  a  cruel  war  against  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  for  its  overthrow,  ami 
also  that  prayers  be  made  for  the  Divine  protection 
to  our  brave  soldiers  and  their  leaders,  in  the  field, 
who  have  so  often  and  so  gallantly  periled  their  lives 
in  battling  with  the  enemy,  and  for  blessings  and 
comfort  from  the  Father  of  Mercies  to  the  sick,  and 
wounded  and  prisoners,  and  to  the  orphans  and 
widows  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  the  serviee  of  their 
country,  and  that  He  will  continue  to  uphold  the 
government  of  the  United  States  against  all  the  efforts 
of  public  enemies  and  secret  foes. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Tender  of  Xational  Thanks  to  General  Sherman. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Sej)t.  3,  1864. 
The  national  thanks  are  tendered  by  the  President 
to  Major-General  W.  T.  Sherman  and  the  gallant 
officers  and  soldiers  of  his  command  before  Atlanta, 
for  the  distinguished  ability  and  perseverance  dis- 
played in  the  campaign  in  Georgia,  which,  under 
Divine  favor,  has  resulted  in  the  capture  of  Atlanta. 
The  marches,  battles,  seiges  and  other  military  oper- 
ations that  have  signalized  the  campaign,  must  render 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  375 

it  famous  in  the  annals  of  war,  and  have  entitled  those 
who  have  participated  therein  to  the  applause  and 
thanks  of  the  nation.  Abraham  Lincoln. 

September  5,  1864. 
Ordered : — First — That  on  Monday  the  5th  day  of 

September,  commencing  at  the  hour  of  twelve  o'clock 
noon,  there  shall  be  given  a  salute  of  one  hundred 
guns  at  the  arsenal  and  navy  yard  at  Washington,  and 
on  Tuesday,  the  6th  day  of  September,  or  the  day 
after  the  receipt  of  this  order,  at  each  arsenal  and 
navy  yard  in  the  United  States,  for  the  recent  brilliant 
achievements  of  the  fleet  and  the  land  forces  of  the 
United  States  in  the  harbor*of  Mobile  in  the  reduction 
of  Fort  Powell,  Fort  Gaines  and  Fort  Morgan.  The 
Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  will 
issue  the  necessary  directions  in  their  respective  de- 
partments for  the  execution  of  this  order. 

Second— That  on  Wednesday,  the  7th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, commencing  at  the  hour  of  twelve  o'clock 
noon,  there  shall  be  fired  a  salute  of  one  hundred  guns 
at  the  arsenal  at  Washington,  and  at  New  York, 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Pittsburg,  Newport, 
Ky.,  and  St.  Louis,  and  at  New  Orleans,  Mobile, 
Pensacola,  Hilton  Head,  and  Newborn,  the  day  after 
the  receipt  of  this  order,for  the  brilliant  achievements 
of  the  army  under  the  command  of  Major-General 
Sherman  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  the  capture  of 
Atlanta. 

The  Secretary  of  War  will  issue  directions  for  the 
execution  of  this  order.  Abraham  Lincoln. 


376  abraham  lincoln's 

Executive    order    returning  thanks    to   the   Ohio 
Volunteers  for  One  Hundred  Days  Service. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Sept.  10,  1864. 

The  term  of  one  hundred  days  for  which  the 
National  Guard  of  Ohio  volunteered  having  expired, 
the  President  directs  an  official  acknowledgment  of 
their  patriotism  and  valuable  services  during  the  re- 
cent campaign.  The  term  of  service  of  their  enlist- 
ment was  short,  but  distinguished  by  memorable 
events  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  on  the  Penin- 
sula, in  the  operations  of  the  James  River,  around 
Petersburg  and  Richmond,  in  the  battle  of  Monocacy, 
in  the  intrenchments  of  Washington,  and  in  other 
important  service.  The  National  Guard  of  Ohio  per- 
formed with  alacrity  the  duty  of  patriotic  volunteers, 
for  which  they  are  entitled,  and  are  hereby  tendered, 
through  the  Governor  of  their  state,  the  national 
thanks. 

The  Secretary  of  War  is  directed  to  transmit  a 
copy  of  this  order  to  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  and  to 
cause  a  certificate  of  their  honorable  service  to  be  de- 
livered to  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Ohio  National 
Guard,  who  recently  served  in  the  military  force  of 
the  United  States  as  volunteers  for  one  hundred  days. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Speech  at  a  Serenade,  September,  1864. 

Soldiers: — You  are  about  to  return  to  your  homes 
and  your  friends,  after  having,  as  I  learn,  performed 
in  camp  a  comparatively  short  term  of  duty  in  this 
great  contest.     I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you,  and  to 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  377 

all  who  have  conic  forward  at  the  call  of  their  coun- 
try. I  wish  it  might  be  more  generally  and  univer- 
sally  understood  what  the  country  is  now  engaged  in. 
We  have,  as  all  will  agree,  a  free  government,  where 
every  man  has  a  right  to  be  equal  with  every  other 
man.  In  this  great  struggle  the  form  of  government 
and  every  form  of  human  right  is  endangered  if  our 
enemies  succeed.  There  is  more  involved  in  this- 
contest  than  is  realized  by  every  one.  There  is  in- 
volved in  this  struggle  the  question,  whether  your 
children  and  my  children  shall  enjoy  the  privileges 
we  have  enjoyed.  I  say  this  in  order  to  impress 
upon  you,  if  you  are  not  already  so  impressed,  that 
no  small  matter  should  divert  us  from  our  great  pur- 
pose. 

There  may  he  some  inequalities  in  the  practical 
application  of  our  system.  It  is  fair  that  each  man 
shall  pay  taxes  in  exact  proportion  to  the  value  of 
his  property;  but  if  we  should  wait,  before  collecting 
a  tax,  to  adjust  the  taxes  upon  each  man  in  exact 
proportion  with  every  other  man,  we  should  never 
collect  any  tax  at  all.  There  may  be  mistakes  made 
sometimes;  things  may  be  done  wrong,  while  the 
officers  of  the  government  do  all  they  can  to  prevent 
mistakes.  But  I  beg  of  you,  as  citizens  of  this  great 
republic,  not  to  let  your  minds  he  carried  off  from 
the  great  work  we  have  before  us.  This  struggle  is 
too  large  for  you  to  be  diverted  from  it  by  any  small 
matter.  When  you  return  to  your  homes,  rise  up  to 
the  height  of  a  generation  of  men  worthy  of  a  tree 
government,  and  we  will  carry  out  the  great  work 
we  have  commenced.  I  return  to  you  my  sincere 
32 


378  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

thanks,  soldiers,  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me  this 
afternoon. 

To  Another  Ohio  Regiment  he  Spoke  as  Follows, 

September,  1864. 

Soldiers : — I  suppose  you  are  going  home  to  see 
your  families  and  friends.  For  the  services  you  have 
done  in  this  great  struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged, 
I  present  you  sincere  thanks  for  myself  and  the 
country. 

I  almost  always  feel  inclined,  when  I  say  any  thing 
to  soldiers,  to  impress  upon  them,  in  a  few  brief  re- 
marks, the  importance  of  success  in  this  contest.  It 
is  not  merely  for  the  day,  hut  for  all  time  to  come, 
that  we  should  perpetuate  for  our  children's  children 
that  great  and  free  government  which  we  have  en- 
joyed all  our  lives.  I  beg  you  to  remember  this,  not 
merely  for  my  sake,  but  for  yours.  I  happen,  tempo- 
rarily, to  occupy  this  big  White  House.  I  am  a  liv- 
ing witness  that  any  one  of  your  children  may  look 
to  come  here  as  my  father's  child  has.  It  is  in  order 
that  each  one  of  you  may  have,  through  this  free 
government  which  we  have  enjoyed,  an  open  field 
and  a  fair  chance  for  your  industry,  enterprise,  and 
intelligence;  that  you  may  all  have  equal  privileges 
in  the  race  of  life,  with  all  its  desirable  human  aspira- 
tions— it  is  for  this  that  the  struggle  should  be  main- 
tained, that  we  may  not  lose  our  birthrights,  not  only 
for  one,  but  for  two  or  three  years,  if  necessary.  The 
nation  is  worth  fighting  for  to  secure  such  an  inesti- 
mable jewel. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  370 

To  Major-General  Sherman. 

Washington,  I).  C,  September  19, 1864. 

The  state  election  of  Indiana  occurs  on  the  11th 
of  October,  and  the  loss  of  it  to  the  friends  of  the 
government  would  go  far  toward  losing  the  whole 
Union  cause. 

The  bad  effect  upon  the  November  election,  and  es- 
pecially the  giving  the  state  government  to  those 
who  will  oppose  the  war  in  every  possible  way,  are 
too  much  to  risk  if  it  can  be  avoided.  The  draft 
proceeds,  notwithstanding  its  strong  tendency  to  lose 
us  the  state. 

Indiana  is  the  only  important  state  voting  in  Octo- 
ber whose  soldiers  can  not  vote  in  the  field.  Any 
thing  you  can  safely  do  to  let  her  soldiers,  or  any  part 
of  them  go  home  to  vote  at  the  state  election,  will  be 
greatly  in  point. 

They  need  not  remain  for  the  presidential  election, 
but  may  return  to  you  at  once. 

This  is  in  no  sense  an  order,  but  is  merely  intended 
to  impress  yon  with  the  importance  to  the  army  it- 
self of  your  doing  all  you  safely  can,  yourself  being 
the  judge  of  what  you  can  safely  do. 

Yours,  truly,  A.Lincoln 

To  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Sept.  23,  1864. 
My  Dear  Sir: — You   have  generously  said  to  me, 
more   than   once,    that   whenever    your   resignation 
could  be  a  relief  to  me,  it  was  at  my  disposal.     The 
time  has  come. 


380  Abraham  Lincoln's 

You  very  well  know  that  this  proceeds  from  no 
dissatisfaction  of  mine  with  you  personally  or  offi- 
cially. 

Your  uniform  kindness  has  been  unsurpassed  by 
that  of  any  other  friend,  and  while  it  is  true  that  the 
war  does  not  so  greatly  add  to  the  difficulties  of  your 
department  as  to  those  of  some  others,  it  is  yet  much 
to  say,  as  I  most  truly  can,  that  in  the  three  years 
and  a  half  during  which  you  have  administered  the 
General  Post-office,  I  remember  no  single  complaint 
against  you  in  connection  therewith. 

Yours,  as  ever,  A.  Lincoln. 

Letter  to  Mrs.  Eliza  P.  Gurney. 

September  30, 1864. 
My  Esteemed  Friend : — I  have  not  forgotten,  proba- 
bly never  shall  forget,  the  very  impressive  occasion 
when  yourself  and  friends  visited  me  on  a  Sabbath 
forenoon  two  years  ago.  Nor  had  your  kind  letter, 
written  nearly  a  year  later,  ever  been  forgotten.  In  all 
it  has  been  your  purpose  to  strengthen  my  reliance  in 
Gofl.  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  good  Christian  peo- 
dle  of  the  country  for  their  constant  prayers  and  con- 
solations, and  to  no  one  of  them  more  than  to  yourself. 
The  purposes  of  the  Almighty  are  perfect  and  must 
prevail,  though  we  erring  mortals  may  fail  to  accu- 
rately perceive  them  in  advance.  We  hoped  for  a 
happy  termination  of  this  terrible  war  long  before 
this  ;  but  God  knows  best,  and  has  ruled  otherwise. 
We  shall  yet  acknowledge  his  wisdom  and  our  own 
errors  therein  ;  meanwhile  we  must  work  earnestly 
in  the  best  light  He  gives  us,  trusting  that  so  working 


PEN  AND  VOICE  381 

still  conduces  to  the  great  end  He  ordains.  Surely 
He  intends  some  great  good  to  follow  this  mighty 
convulsion  which  no  mortal  could  make,  and  no 
mortal  could  stay.  Your  people — the  Friends  — have 
had,  and  arc  having,  very  great  trials  on  principles 
and  faith  opposed  to  both  war  and  oppression.  They 
can  only  practically  oppose  oppression  by  war.  In 
this  hard  dilemma  some  have  chosen  one  horn  and 
some  the  other. 

For  those  appealing  to  me  on  conscientious  grounds 
I  have  done  and  shall  do  the  best  I  could  and  can  in 
ray  own  conscience  under  my  oath  to  the  law.  That 
you  believe  this  I  doubt  not,  and  believing  it  I  shall 
still  receive  for  my  country  and  myself  your  earnest 
prayers  to  our  Father  in  Heaven. 

Your  sincere  friend,  A.  Lincoln. 

Special    Executive    Order    Returning    Thanks    to 
Volunteers  for  one  Hundred  Days,   from  the 
States  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  October  1, 1804. 
The  term  of  one  hundred  days  for  which   volun- 
teers  from  the  states  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  Iowa,  and 
Wisconsin   volunteered,    under   the   call    of  their   re- 
spective governors,  in  the  months  of  May  and   -June, 
to    aid   the    recent    campaign  of   General    Sherman, 
having  expired,  the  president  directs  an  official   ac- 
knowledgment to  be  made  of  their  patriotic  service. 
It  was  their  good  fortune  to  render  effective  service 
in  the  brilliant  operations  in  the  south-west,  and  to 
contribute  to  the  victories  of  the  national  arms  over 
the  rebel  forces  in  Georgia,  under  command  of  John- 


382  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

ston  and  Hood.  On  all  occasions,  and  in  every 
service  to  which  they  were  assigned,  their  duty  as 
patriotic  volunteers  was  performed  with  alacrity  and 
courage,  for  which  they  are  entitled  to  and  are  hereby 
tendered  the  national  thanks  through  the  governors 
of  their  respective  states. 

The  Secretary  of  War  is  directed  to  transmit  a 
copy  of  this  order  to  the  governors  of  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Iowa,  and  "Wisconsin,  and  to  cause  a  certificate 
of  their  honorable  services  to  be  delivered  to  the  of- 
ficers and  soldiers  of  the  states  above  named,  who 
recently  served  in  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  as  volunteers  for  one  hundred  days. 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

Speech  to  the  148th  Ohio  Regiment.  Fall  of  1864. 
Soldiers  of  the  148th  Ohio: — I  am  most  happy  to 
meet  you  on  this  occasion.  I  understand  that  it  has 
been  your  honorable  privilege  to  stand,  for  a  brief 
period,  in  the  defense  of  your  country,  and  that  now 
you  are  on  your  way  to  your  homes.  I  congratulate 
you,  and  those  who  are  waiting  to  bid  you  welcome 
home  from  the  war;  and  permit  me  in  the  name  of 
the  people  to  thank  you  for  the  part  you  have  taken 
in  this  struggle  for  the  life  of  the  nation.  \rou  are 
soldiers  of  the  republic,  every-where  honored  and  re- 
spected. Whenever  I  appear  before  a  body  of  soldiers, 
I  feel  tempted  to  talk  to  them  of  the  nature  of  the 
struggle  in  which  we  are  engaged.  I  look  upon  it  as 
an  attempt  on  the  one  hand  to  overwhelm  and  destroy 
the  national  existence,  while  on  our  part  we  are 
striving  to  maintain  the  government  and  institutions 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  383 

of  our  fathers,  to  enjoy  them  ourselves,  and  transmit 
them  to  our  children  and  our  children's  children  for- 
ever. 

To  do  this  the  constitutional  administration  of  our 
government  must  be  sustained,  and  I  beg  of  you  not 
to  allow  your  minds  or  your  hearts  to  be  diverted 
from  the  support  of  all  necessary  measures  for  that 
purpose,  by  any  miserable  picayune  arguments  ad- 
dressed to  your  pockets,  or  inflammatory  appeal 
made  to  your  passions  and  your  prejudices. 

Tt  is  vain  and  foolish  to  arraign  this  man  or  that 
for  the  part  he  has  taken  or  has  not  taken,  and  to 
hold  the  government  responsible  for  his  acts.  In  no 
administration  can  there  be  perfect  equality  of  action 
and  uniform  satisfaction  rendered  by  all. 

But  this  government  must  be  preserved,  in  spite  of 
the  acts  of  any  man  or  set  of  men.  It  is  worthy 
your  every  effort.  Nowhere  in  the  world  is  presented 
a  government  of  so  much  liberty  and  equality.  To 
the  humblest  and  poorest  amongst  us  are  held  out. 
the  highest  privileges  and  positions.  The  present 
moment  finds  me  at  the  White  House,  yet  there  is  as 
good  a  chance  for  your  children  as  there  was  for  my 
lather's. 

Again  I  admonish  you  not  to  be  turned  from  your 
stern  purpose  of  defending  our  beloved  country  ami 
its  free  institutions  by  any  arguments  urged  by  am- 
bitious  and  designing  men,  but  stand  fast,  to  the 
Union  and  the  old  flag. 

Soldiers,  I  bid  you  God-speed  to  your  homes. 


384  abraham  lincoln^ 

The   President's  Last,  Shortest,  and  Best  Speech, 

in  1804. 

On  Thursday  of  last  week  two  ladies  from  Tennes- 
see came  before  the  president  asking  the  release  of 
their  husbands  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at  Johnson's 
Island.  They  were  put  oft'  till  Friday,  when  they 
came  again,  and  were  again  put  oft'  to  Saturday.  At 
each  of  the  interviews,  one  of  the  ladies  urged  that 
her  husband  was  a  religious  man.  On  Saturday  the 
president  ordered  the  release  of  the  prisoners,  and 
then  said  to  the  lady :  "  You  say  your  husband  is  a 
religious  man ;  tell  him  when  you  meet  him,  that  I 
say  I  am  not  much  of  a  judge  of  religion,  but  that, 
in  my  opinion,  the  religion  that  sets  men  to  rebel  and 
light  against  this  government,  because,  as  they  think, 
that  government  does  not  sufficiently  help  some  men 
to  eat  their  bread  on  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces, 
is  not  the  sort  of  religion  upon  which  people  can 
get  to  heaven." 

To  Hon.  Henry  W.  Hoffman. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Oct.  18,  1864. 

My  Dear  Sir:  —  A  convention  of  Maryland  has 
formed  a  new  constitution  for  the  state;  a  public 
meeting  is  called  for  this  evening  at  Baltimore,  to 
aid  in  securing  its  ratification,  and  you  ask  a  word 
from  me  for  the  occasion.  I  presume  the  only  fea- 
ture of  the  instrument  about  which  there  is  serious 
controversy,  is  that  which  provides  for  the  extinction 
of  slavery. 

It  needs  not  to  be  a  secret,  and  I  presume  it  is  no 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  385 

secret,  that  I  wish  success  to  this  provision.     I  desire 
it  on  every  consideration. 

I  wish  to  see  all  men  free.  I  wish  the  national 
prosperity  of  the  already  free,  which  I  feel  sure  the 
extinction  of  slavery  would  bring.  I  wish  to  see  in 
progress  of  disappearing  that  only  thing  which  could 
bring  this  nation  to  a  civil  war.  I  attempt  no  argu- 
ment. Argument  upon  the  question  is  already  ex- 
hausted by  the  abler,  better  informed,  and  more  im- 
mediately interested  sons  of  Maryland  herself.  I 
only  add,  that  I  shall  be  gratified  exceedingly  if  the 
good  people  of  the  state  shall,  by  their  votes,  ratify 
the  new  constitution. 

Tours  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

Speech  at  a  Serenade,  October  19,  1864. 

I  am  notified  that  this  is  a  compliment  paid  me  by 
the  loyal  Marylanders  resident  in  this  district.  I  in- 
fer that  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  for  that 
state  furnishes  the  occasion,  and  that,  in  your  view, 
the  extirpation  of  slavery  constitutes  the  chief  merit 
of  the  new  constitution.  Most  heartily  do  I  congrat- 
ulate you  and  Maryland,  and  the  nation,  and  the 
world  upon  the  event.  I  regret  that  it  did  not  occur 
two  years  sooner,  which,  I  am  sure,  would  have  saved 
to  the  nation  more  money  than  would  have  met  all 
the  private  loss  incident  to  the  measure. 

But  it  has  come  at  last,  and  I  sincerely  hope  its 
friends  may  full v  realize  all  their  anticipations  of 
good  from  it,  and  that  its  opponents  may,  by  its 
effects,  be  agreeably  and  profitably  disappointed. 

A  word  upon  another  subject:  Something  said  by 
33 


086  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

the  Secretary  of  State,  in  Lis  recent  speech  at  Au- 
burn, has  been  construed  by  some  into  a  threat  that, 
if  I  shall  be  beaten  at  the  election,  I  will,  between 
then  and  the  end  of  mv  constitutional  term,  do  what 
I  may  be  able  to  ruin  the  government.  Others  regard 
the  fact  that  the  Chicago  convention  adjourned  not 
sine  die,  but  to  meet  again,  if  called  to  do  so  by  a  par- 
ticular individual,  as  the  intimation  of  a  purpose  that 
if  their  nominee  shall  be  elected  he  will  at  once  seize 
the  control  of  the  government.  I  hope  the  good 
people  will  permit  themselves  to  suffer  no  uneasiness 
on  this  point. 

I  am  struggling  to  maintain  the  government,  not 
to  overthrow  it.  I  therefore  say  that,  if  I  shall  live, 
I  shall  remain  president  until  the  fourth  of  next 
March,  and  that  whoever  shall  be  constitutionally 
elected  therefor,  in  November,  shall  be  duly  installed 
as  president  on  the  fourth  of  March,  and  that,  in  the 
interval,  I  shall  do  my  utmost  that  whoever  is  to  hold 
the  helm  for  the  next  voyage  shall  start  with  the  best 
possible  chance  to  save  the  ship. 

This  is  due  to  the.  people  both  on  principle  and 
under  the  Constitution.  Their  will,  constitutionally 
expressed,  is  the  ultimate  law  for  all.  If  they  should 
deliberately  resolve  to  have  immediate  peace,  even  at 
the  loss  of  their  country  and  their  liberties,  I  have 
not  the  power  nor  the  right  to  resist  them.  It  is 
their  own  business,  and  they  must  do  as  they  pleas.' 
with  their  own.  I  believe,  however,  they  are  still 
resolved  to  preserve  their  country  and  their  liberty; 
and  in  this  office  or  out  I  am  resolved  to  stand  by 
them. 


i 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  387 

I  may  add,  that  in  this  purpose  to  save  the  coun- 
try and  its  liberties  no  classes  of  people  seem  so 
nearly  unanimous  as  the  soldiers  in  the  field  and  the 
seamen  afloat.  Do  they  not  have  the  hardest  of  it? 
Who  should  quail  while  they  do  not?  God  bless  the 
soldiers  and  seamen,  with  all  their  brave  command- 
ers. 

Reply   to   the   Protest  of   Tennessee,   October  22, 

1864. 

At  the  time  these  papers  were  presented,  as  be- 
fore stated,  I  had  never  seen  either  of  them,  nor  heard 
of  tin'  subject  to  which  they  relate,  except  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  only  one  day  previously.  Up  to  the  present 
moment  nothing  whatever  has  passed  between  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  or  any  one  else  connected  with  the 
proclamation  and  myself.  Since  receiving  the  papers, 
as  stated,  I  have  given  the  subject  such  brief  con- 
sideration as  I  have  been  able  to  do  in  the  midst  of 
so  many  pressing  public  duties. 

My  conclusion  is,  that  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  matter,  cither  to  sustain  the  plan  as  the  conven- 
tion and  Governor  Johnson  have  initiated  it,  or  to  re- 
voke or  modify  it  as  you  demand.  By  the  (1<>nsti- 
tution  and  laws  the  President  is  charged  with  no 
duty  in  the  conduct  of  a  presidential  election  in  any 
state ;  nor  do  I  in  this  case  perceive  any  military  rea- 
sons for  his  interference  in  the  matter. 

The  movement  set  on  foot  by  the  convention  and 
(iovernor  Johnson  does  not,  as  seems  to  be  assumed 
by  you,  emanate  from  the  national  executive.  In  no 
proper  sense  can  it  be  considered  other  than  as  an 


388  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN^ 

independent  movement  of  at  least  a  portion  of  the 
loyal  people  of  Tennessee. 

I  do  not  perceive  in  the  plan  any  menace  of  vio- 
lence or  coercion  toward  any  one.  Governor  John- 
son, like  any  other  loyal  citizen  of  Tennessee,  has  the 
right  to  favor  any  political  plan  he  chooses,  and  as 
military  governor  it  is  his  duty  to  keep  the  peace 
among  and  for  the  loyal  people  of  the  state. 

I  can  not  discern  that  by  this  plan  he  proposes  any 
more.  But  you  object  to  the  plan.  Leaving  it 
alone  will  be  your  perfect  security  against  it.  Do  as 
you  please  on  your  own  account,  peacefully  and 
loyally,  and  Governor  Johnson  will  not  molest  you, 
but  will  protect  you  against  violence  so  far  as  in 
his  power. 

I  presume  that  the  conducting  of  a  presidential 
election  in  Tennessee  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
old  code  of  the  state  is  not  now  a  possibility. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  if  any  election 
shall  be  held,  and  any  votes  shall  be  cast  in  the  State 
of  Tennessee  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  it  will  belong,  not  to  the  military 
agents,  nor  yet  to  the  executive  department,  but  ex- 
clusively to  another  department  of  the  government, 
to  determine  whether  they  are  entitled  to  be  counted, 
in  conformity  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States. 

Except  it  be  to  give  protection  against  violence,  I 
decline  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  any  presidential 
election.  Abraham  Lincoln. 


PEN  AND  VOICE,  389 

To  General  Sheridan. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  October  22,  1804. 
With  groat  pleasure  I  tender  to  you  and  your  brave 
army,  the  thanks  of  the  nation  and  my  own  personal 
admiration  and  gratitude  for  the  month's  operations 
in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  especially  for  the 
splendid  work  of  October  19th. 

Your  obedient  servant,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Speech  at  a  Seranade  by  a  Club  of  Pennsylvanians 
the  Night  of  the  Election,  November  9,  18(34. 

Friends  and  Fellow- Citizens: — Even  before  I  had 
been  informed  by  you  that  the  compliment  was  paid 
me  by  loyal  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  friendly  to 
me,  I  had  inferred  that  you  were  that  portion  of 
my  countrymen  who  think  that  the  best  interests 
of  the  nation  are  to  be  subserved  by  the  support  of 
the  present  administration.  I  do  not  pretend  to  say 
that  you  who  think  so  embrace  all  the  patriotism 
and  loyalty  of  the  country.  But  I  do  believe,  and 
I  trust  without  personal  interest,  that  the  welfare  of 
the  whole  country  does  require  that  such  support 
and  indorsement  be  given. 

1  earnestly  believe  that  the  consequences  of  this 
day's  work,  if  it  be  as  you  assure  me,  and  as  now 
seems  probable,  will  be  to  the  lasting  advantage 
it  not  to  the  very  salvation  of  the  country. 

I  can  not  at  this  hour  say  what  has  been  the  re- 
sult of  the  election,  but  whatever  it  may  have  been, 
and  T  have  no  desire  to  modify  this  opinion,  that 
all  who  have  labored  to-day  in  behalf  of  the  Union 


390  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

organization  have  wrought  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  country  and  the  world,  not  only  for  the  present, 
but  for  all  future  a°;es. 

I  am  thankful  to  God  for  the  approval  of  the 
people.  But  while  deeply  grateful  for  this  mark  of 
their  confidence  in  me,  if  I  know  my  heart,  my 
gratitude  is  free  from  any  taint  of  personal  triumph. 

I  do  not  impugn  the  motives  of  any  one  opposed 
to  me.  It  is  no  pleasure  to  me  to  triumph  over  any 
one,  but  I  give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  the  evi- 
dences of  the  people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free 
government  and  the  right  of  humanity. 

Response  to  a  Seranade  by  the  various  Lincoln  and 
Johnson  Clubs  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  No- 
vember 10,  1864. 

It  has  long  been  a  grave  question  whether  any  gov- 
ernment, not  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of  its  people, 
can  be  strong  enough  to  maintain  its  existence  in 
great  emergencies. 

On  this  point  the  present  rebellion  brought  our 
government  to  a  severe  test,  and  a  presidential  elec- 
tion occurring  in  a  regular  course  during  the  rebel- 
lion, added  not  a  little  to  the  strain. 

If  the  loyal  people  united  were  put  to  the  utmost 
of  their  strength  by  the  rebellion,  must  they  not  fail 
when  divided  and  partially  paralized  by  a  political 
war  among  themselves?  But  the  election  was  a 
necessity.  We  can  not  have  free  government  with- 
out elections;  and  if  the  rebellion  could  force  us  to 
forego  or  postpone  a  national  election,  it  might  fairly 
claim  to  have  already  conquered  and  ruined  us. 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  391 

The  strife  of  the  election  is  but  human  nature  prac- 
tically applied  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  What  has 
occurred  in  this  case  must  ever  recur  in  similar  cases. 
Human  nature  will  not  change  In  the  future  great 
national  trial  compared  with  the  men  of  this,  we  will 
have  as  weak  and  as  strong,  as  silly  and  as  wise,  as 
had  and  as  good.  Let  us,  therefore,  study  the  inci- 
dents of  this  as  philosophy  to  learn  wisdom  from,  and 
none  of  them  as  wrongs  to  be  revenged. 

But  the  election,  along  with  its  incidental  and  un- 
desirable strife,  has  done  good  too. 

It  has  demonstrated  that  a  people's  government 
can  sustain  a  national  election  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
civil  war.  Until  now,  it  has  not  been  known  to  the 
world  that  this  was  a  possibility.  It  shows,  also,  how 
sound  and  strong  we  still  are.  It  shows  that  even 
among  the  candidates  of  the  same  party,  he  who  is 
most  devoted  to  the  Union  and  most  opposed  to 
treason  can  receive  most  of  the  people's  votes. 

It  shows,  also,  to  the  extent  yet  known,  that  we 
have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war  be- 
gun. Gold  is  good  in  its  place;  but  living,  brave  and 
patriotic  men  are  better  than  gold.  But  the  rebellion 
continues,  and,  now  that  the  election  is  over,  may  not 
all  have  a  common  interest  to  re-unite  in  a  common 
effort  to  save  our  common  country?  For  my  own 
part,  I  have  striven  and  shall  strive  to  avoid  placing 
any  obstacle  in   the  way. 

So  long  as  1  have  been  here,  I  have  not  willingly 
planted  a  thorn  in  any  man's  bosom.  Wnile  I  am 
duly  sensible  to  the  high  compliment  of  a  re-elec- 
tion, and  duly  grateful,  as  I  trust,  to  Almighty  God, 


302  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN'S 

for  having  directed  my  countrymen  to  a  right  con- 
clusion, as  I  think,  for  their  good,  it  adds  nothing  to 
my  satisfaction  that  any  other  man  may  be  disap- 
pointed by  the  result. 

May  I  ask  those  who  have  not  differed  with  me  to 
join  with  me  in  this  same  spirit  toward  those  who 
have?  And,  now,  let  me  close  by  asking  three 
hearty  cheers  for  our  brave  soldiers  and  seamen,  and 
their  gallant  and  skillful  commanders. 

Letter  of  Condolence  Written  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  of 
Boston,  Mass.,  on  the  Death  of  Five  Sons  on 
the  Field  of  Battle. 

Executive  3Iansion,  Washington,  Nov.  21,  1864. 

Dear  Madam: — I  have  been  shown  in  the  tiles  of 
the  War  Department,  a  statement  of  the  Adjutant- 
General  of  Massachusetts,  that  you  are  the  mother  of 
five  sons,  who  have  died  gloriously  on  the  field  of 
battle. 

I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  words 
of  mine  which  should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from 
the  grief  of  a  loss  so  overwhelming.  But  I  can  not 
refrain  from  tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that 
may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died 
to  save.  I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  as- 
suage the  anguish  of  your  bereavement,  and  leave 
you  only  the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost, 
and  the  solemn  pride  that  must  be  yours,  to  have  laid 
so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. 
Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully, 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  393 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  December  6,  1864. 

Fellow-citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives:— Again  the  blessings  of  health  and  abundant 
harvests  claim  our  profoundest  gratitude  to  Almighty 
God.  The  condition  of  our  foreign  affairs  is  reason- 
ably satisfactory. 

Mexico  continues  to  be  a  theater  of  civil  war. 
While  our  political  relations  with  that  country  have 
undergone  no  change,  we  have,  at  the  same  time, 
strictly  maintained  neutrality  between  the  belliger- 
ents. 

The  proposed  overland  telegraph  between  America 
and  Europe,  by  the  way  of  Behring's  Straits  and 
Asiatic  Russia,  which  was  sanctioned  by  Congress  at 
the  last  session,  has  been  undertaken,  under  very 
favorable  circumstances,  by  an  association  of  Ameri- 
can citizens,  with  the  cordial  good-will  and  support 
as  well  of  this  government  as  of  those  of  Great 
Britain  and  Russia.  Assurances  have  been  received 
from  most  of  the  South  American  States  of  their 
high  appreciation  of  the  enterprise,  and  their  readi- 
ness to  co-operate  in  constructing  lines  tributary  to  that 
world-encircling  communication.  I  learn  with  much 
satisfaction  that  the  noble  design  of  a  telegraphic 
communication  between  the  eastern  coast  of  America 
and  Great  Britain  has  been  renewed  with  full  expec- 
tation of  its  early  accomplishment. 

Thus  it  is  hoped  that  with  the  return  of  domestic 
peace  the  country  will  be  able  to  resume  with  energy 


394  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

and  advantage  its  former  high  career  of  commerce 
and  civilization. 

Our  very  popular  and  estimable  representative  in 
Egypt  died  in  April  last.  An  unpleasant  altercation 
which  arose  between  the  temporary  incumbent  of  the 
office  and  the  government  of  the  Pasha  resulted  in  a 
suspension  of  intercourse.  The  evil  was  promptly 
corrected  on  the  arrival  of  the  successor  in  the  con- 
sulate, and  our  relation  with  Egypt,  as  well  as  our  re- 
lations with  the  Barbary  Powers,  are  entirely  satis- 
factory. 

The  rebellion  which  has  so  long  been  flagrant  in 
China,  has  at  last  been  suppressed,  with  the  co-oper- 
ating good  offices  of  this  government  and  of  the  other 
western  commercial  states. 

The  judicial  consular  establishment  there  has  be- 
come very  difficult  and  onerous,  and  it  will  need  leg- 
islative revision  to  adapt  it  to  the  extension  of  our 
commerce,  and  to  the  more  intimate  intercourse  which 
has  been  instituted  with  the  government  and  people 
of  that  vast  empire.  China  seems  to  be  accepting 
with  hearty  good  will  the  conventional  laws  which 
regulate  commercial  and  social  intercourse  among 
the  western  nations. 

Owing  to  the  peculiar  situation  of  Japan,  and  the 
anomalous  form  of  its  government,  the  action  of  that 
empire  in  performing  treaty  stipulations  is  inconstant, 
and  capricious.  Nevertheless,  good  progress  has  been 
effected  by  the  western  powers,  moving  with  enlight- 
ened concert. 

Our  own  pecuniary  claims  have  been  allowed,  or 
put  in  course  of  settlement,  and  the  inland   sea  has 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  305 

been  reopened  to  commerce.  There  is  reason  also  to 
believe  that  these  proceedings  have  increased  rather 
than  diminished  the  friendship  of  Japan  toward  the 
United  States. 

The  ports  of  Norfolk,  Fernandina,  and  Pensacola 
have  been  opened  by  proclamation.  It  is  hoped  that 
foreign  merchants  will  now  consider  whether  it  is  not 
safer  and  more  profitable  to  themselves,  as  well  as 
just  to  the  United  States,  to  resort  to  these  and  other 
open  ports,  than  it  is  to  pursue,  through  many  haz- 
ards, and  at  vast  eost,  a  contraband  trade  with  the 
other  ports  which  are  closed,  if  not  by  actual  mili- 
tary occupation,  at  least  by  a  lawful  and  effective 
blockade. 

For  myself,  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  power  and  duty 
of  the  executive,  under  the  law  of  nations,  to  ex- 
elude  enemies  of  the  human  race  from  an  asylum  in 
the  United  States.  If  Congress  should  think  that 
proceedings  in  such  cases  lack  the  authority  of  law, 
or  ought  to  be  further  regulated  by  it,  I  recommend 
that  provision  be  made  for  effectually  preventing  for- 
eign slave-traders  from  acquiring  domicile  and  facil- 
ities for  their  criminal  occupation  in  our  country. 

It  is  possible  that,  if  it  were  a  new  and  open  ques- 
tion, the  maritime  powers,  with  the  lights  they  now 
enjoy,  would  not  concede  the  privileges  of  a  naval 
belligerent  to  the  insurgents  of  the  United  States, 
destitute,  as  they  are,  and  always  have  been,  equally 
of  ships  of  war,  and  of  ports  and  harbors.  Disloyal 
emissaries  have  been  neither  less  assiduous  nor  more 
successful  during  the  last  year  than  they  were  before 
that  time  in   their  efforts,  under  favor  of  that  privi- 


396  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

lege  to  embroil  our  country  in  foreign  wars.  The 
desire  and  determination  of  the  governments  of  the 
maritime  states  to  defeat  that  design  are  believed  to 
be  as  sincere  as,  and  can  not  be  more  earnest  than  our 
own. 

Nevertheless,  unforeseen  political  difficulties  have 
arisen,  especially  in  Brazilian  and  British  ports,  and 
on  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States,  which 
have  required,  and  are  likely  to  continue  to  require, 
the  practice  of  constant  vigilance,  and  a  just  and  con- 
ciliatory spirit  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  of  the  nations  concerned  and  their  govern- 
ments. Commissioners  have  been  appointed  under 
the  treaty  with  Great  Britain  on  the  adjustment  of 
the  claims  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  and  Puget  Sound 
Agricultural  Companies  in  Oregon,  and  are  now  pro- 
ceeding to  the  execution  of  the  trust  assigned  to  them. 
In  view  of  the  insecurity  of  life  and  property  in  the 
region  adjacent  to  the  Canadian  border,  by  reason  of 
recent  assaults  and  depredations  committed  by  inimi- 
cal and  desperate  persons  who  are  harbored  there,  it 
has  been  thought  proper  to  give  notice  that  after  the 
expiration  of  six  months,  the  period  conditionally 
stipulated  in  the  existing  arrangement  with  Great 
Britain,  the  United  States  must  hold  themselves  at 
liberty  to  increase  their  naval  armament  upon  the 
lakes  if  they  shall  rind  that  proceeding  necessary. 
The  condition  of  the  border  will  necessarily  come  into 
consideration  in  connection  with  the  question  of  con- 
tinuing or  modifying  the  rights  of  transit  from  Canada 
through  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the  regulation 
of  imposts,  which  were  temporarily  established  by  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  397 

reciprocity  treaty  of  the  5th  June,  1854.  I  desire 
however,  to  be  understood,  while  making  this  state- 
ment, that  the  colonial  authorities  of  Canada  are  not 
deemed  to  be  intentionally  unjust  or  unfriendly 
toward  the  United  States  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  there 
is  every  reason  to  expect  that,  with  the  approval  of 
the  imperial  government,  they  will  take  the  necessary 
measures  to  prevent  new  incursions  across  the  bor- 
ders.    .     .     . 

The  war  continues.  Since  the  last  annual  message 
all  the  important  lines  and  positions  then  occupied  by 
our  forces  have  been  maintained,  and  our  arms  have 
steadily  advanced;  thus  liberating  the  regions  left  in 
the  rear,  so  that  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and 
parts  of  other  states  have  again  produced  reasonably 
fair  crops. 

The  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  military  opera- 
tions of  the  year  is  General  Sherman's  attempted 
march  of  three  hundred  miles  directly  through  the  in- 
surgent region.  It  tends  to  show  a  great  increase  of 
our  relative  strength  that  our  General-in-chief  should 
feel  able  to  confront  and  hold  in  check  every  active 
force  of  the  enemy,  and  yet  to  detach  a  well  appointed 
large  army  to  move  on  such  an  expedition.  The  re- 
sult not  yet  being  known,  conjecture  in  regard  to  it 
is  not  here  indulged. 

Important  movements  have  also  occurred  during 
the  year  to  the  effect  of  molding  society  for  durabil- 
ity in  the  Union.  Although  short  of  complete  suc- 
cess, it  is  much  in  the  right  direction  that  twelve 
thousand  citizens  in  each  of  the  States  of  Arkansas 
and  Louisiana  have  organized  loyal  state  governments, 


308  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

with  free  constitutions,  and  are  earnestly  struggling 
to  maintain  and  administer  them.  The  movements 
in  the  same  direction,  more  extensive  though  less 
definite,  in  Missouri,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  should 
not  be  overlooked.  But  Maryland  presents  the  ex- 
ample of  complete  success.  Maryland  is  secure  to 
liberty  and  Union  for  all  the  future.  The  genius  of 
rebellion  will  no  more  claim  Maryland.  Like  another 
foul  spirit,  being  driven  out,  it  may  seek  to  tear  her, 
but  it  will  woo  her  no  more. 

At  the  last  session  of  Congress  a  proposed  amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  abolishing  slavery  through- 
out the  United  States  passed  the  Senate,  but  failed 
for  lack  of  the  requisite  two-thirds  vote  in  the  House 
of  Representatives.  Although  the  present  is  the 
same  Congress,  and  nearly  the  same  members,  and 
without  questioning  the  wisdom  or  patriotism  of  those 
who  stood  in  opposition,  I  venture  to  recommend  the 
reconsideration  and  passage  of  the  measure  at  the 
present  session.  Of  course  the  abstract  question  is 
not  changed;  but  an  intervening  election  shows,  al- 
most certainly,  that  the  next  Congress  will  pass  the 
measure  if  this  does  not.  Hence  there  is  only  a  ques- 
tion oitime  as  to  when  the  proposed  amendment  will 
go  to  the  states  for  their  action.  And  as  it  is  to  so 
go,  at  all  events,  may  we  not  agree  that  the  sooner  the 
better?  It  is  not  claimed  that  the  election  has  imposed 
a  duty  on  members  to  change  their  views  or  their 
votes,  any  further  than,  as  an  additional  element  to 
to  be  considered,  their  judgment  may  be  affected  by 
it.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  people  now  for  the  first 
time  heard  upon  the  question.     In  a  great  national 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  3'JO 

crisis  like  ours,  unanimity  of  action  among  those 
seeking  a  common  end  is  very  desirable, — almost  in- 
dispensable. 

And  yet  no  approach  to  such  unanimity  is  attaina- 
ble unless  some  deference  shall  be  paid  to  the  will  of 
the  majority,  simply  because  it  is  the  will  of  the  ma- 
jority. In  this  ease  the  common  end  is  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  Union,  and  among  the  means  to  secure 
thatend,such  will  through  the  election  is  most  clearly 
declared  in  favor  of  such  constitutional  amendment. 
The  most  reliable  indication  of  public  purpose  m 
this  country  is  derived  through  our  popular  elections. 
Judging  by  the  recent  canvass  and  its  result,  the  pur- 
pose of  the  people  within  the  loyal  states  to  maintain 
the  integrity  of  the  Union  was  never  more  firm  nor 
more  nearly  unanimous  than  now. 

The  extraordinary  calmness  and  good  order  with 
which  the  millions  of  voters  met  and  mingled  at  the 
polls  give  strong  assurance  of  this.  Xot  only  all 
those  who  supported  the  Union  ticket,  so-called,  but 
a  great  majority  of  the  opposing  party  also,  may  be 
fairly  claimed  to  entertain  and  to  be  actuated  by  the 
same  purpose.  It  is  an  unanswerable  argument  to 
this  effect,  that  no  candidate  for  any  office  whatever, 
hieh  or  low,  has  ventured  to  seek  votes  on  the  avowal 
that  he  was  for  giving  up  the  Union.  There  have 
been  much  impugning  of  motives,  and  much  heated 
controversy  as  to  the  proper  means  and  best  mode  of 
advancing  the  Union  cause,  but  on  the  distinct  issue 
of  Union  or  no  Union  the  politicians  have  shown 
their  instinctive  knowledge  that  there  is  no  diversity 


400  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

among  the  people.  In  affording  the  people  the  fair 
opportunity  of  showing,  one  to  another  and  to  the 
world,  this  firmness  and  unanimity  of  purpose,  the 
election  has  been  of  vast  value  to  the  national  cause. 

The  election  has  exhibited  another  fact  not  less 
valuable  to  be  known — the  fact  that  we  do  not  ap- 
proach exhaustion  in  the  most  important  branch  of 
national  resources — that  of  living  men.  While  it  is 
melancholy  to  reflect  that  the  war  has  filled  so  many 
graves  and  carried  mourning  to  so  many  hearts,  it  is 
some  relief  to  know  that,  compared  with  the  surviv- 
ing, the  fallen  have  been  so  few. 

While  corps  and  divisions  and  brigades  and  regi- 
ments have  formed  and  fought  and  dwindled  and  gone 
out  of  existence,  a  great  majority  of  the  men  who 
composed  them  are  still  living.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  naval  service.  The  election  returns  prove  this. 
So  many  voters  could  not  else  be  found.  The  states 
regularly  holding  elections  both  now  and  four  years 
ago,  to  wit,  California,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Illi- 
nois, Indiana,  Iowa,  Kentucky,  Maine,  Maryland, 
Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Missouri,  New 
Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon, 
Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  West  Vir- 
ginia, and  Wisconsin  cast  3,982,011  votes  now  against 
3,870,222  cast  then. 

To  this  is  to  be  added,  33,762  cast  now  in  the  new 
states  of  Kansas  and  Nevada,  which  states  did  not 
vote  in  1800,  thus  swelling  the  aggregate  to  4,015,773 
and  the  net  increase  during  the  three  years  and  a 
half  of  war  to  145,551. 

A  table  is  appended  showing  particulars.     To  this 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  401 

again  should  be  added  the  number  of  all  soldiers  in 
the  field  from  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  New 
Jersey,  Delaware,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  California, 
who,  by  the  laws  of  those  states,  could  not  vote  away 
from  their  homes,  and  which  number  can  not  be  less 
than  90,000.  Nor  yet  is  this  all.  The  number  in 
organized  territories  is  triple  now  what  it  was  four 
years  ago,  while  thousands,  white  and  black,  join  us 
as  the  national  arms  press  back  the  insurgent  lines. 
So  much  is  shown  affirmatively  and  negatively  by  the 
election.  It  is  not  material  to  inquire  how  the  in- 
crease has  been  produced  or  to  show  that  it  would 
have  been  greater  but  for  the  war,  which  is  probably 
true. 

The  important  fact  remains  demonstrated  that  we 
have  more  men  now  than  we  had  when  the  war  began  ; 
that  we  are  not  exhausted  nor  in  process  of  exhaus- 
tion ;  that  we  are  gaining  strength,  and  may  if  need 
he  maintain  the  contest  indefinitely.  This  as  to  men. 
Material  resources  are  now  more  complete  and  abund- 
ant than  ever.  The  natural  resources,  then,  are  un- 
exhausted, and  as  we  believe,  inexhaustible.  The 
public  purpose  to  re-establish  and  maintain  the 
national  authority,  is  unchanged,  and,  as  we  believe, 
unchangeable.  The  manner  of  continuing  the  effort 
remains  to  choose.  On  careful  consideration  of  all 
the  evidence  accessible,  it  seems  to  me  that  no  at- 
tempt at  negotiation  with  the  insurgent  leader  could 
result  in  any  good  He  would  accept  nothing  short 
of  severance  of  the  Union — precisely  what  we  will 
not  and  can  not  give.  His  declarations  to  this  effect 
34 


402  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

are  explicit  and  oft-repeated.  He  does  not  attempt 
to  deceive  us.  He  affords  us  no  excuse  to  deceive 
ourselves.  He  can  not  voluntarily  re-accept  the 
Union,  we  can  not  voluntarily  yield  it.  Between 
him  and  us  the  issue  is  distinct,  simple  and  inflexible. 
It  is  an  issue  which  can  only  be  tried  by  war,  and 
decided  by  victory.  If  we  yield,  we  are  beaten ;  if 
the  southern  people  fail  him,  he  is  beaten.  Either 
way,  it  would  be  the  victory  and  defeat  following 
war.  What  is  true,  however,  of  him  who  heads  the 
insurgent  cause  is  not  necessarily  true  of  those  who 
follow. 

Although  he  can  not  re-accept  the  Union,  they  can  ; 
some  of  them,  we  know,  already  desire  peace  and  re- 
union. The  number  of  such  may  increase.  They  can 
at  any  moment  have  peace  simply  by  laying  down 
their  arms  and  submitting  to  the  national  authority 
under  the  Constitution. 

After  so  much,  the  government  could  not,  if  it 
would,  maintain  war  against  them.  The  loyal  people 
would  not  sustain  or  allow  it.  If  questions  should  re- 
main, we  would  adjust  them  by  the  peaceful  means 
of  legislation,  conference,  courts,  and  votes,  operating 
only  in  constitutional  and  lawful  channels.  Some 
certain,  and  other  possible,  questions  are,  and,  would 
be,  beyond  the  executive  power  to  adjust,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  admission  of  members  into  Congress,  and 
whatever  might  require  the  appropriation  of  money. 

The  executive  power  itself  would  be  greatly  dimin- 
ished by  the  cessation  of  actual  war.  Pardons  and 
remissions  of  forfeitures,  however,  would  still  be  with- 
in executive  control.     In  what  spirit  and  temper  this 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  403 

control  would  be  exercised  can  be  fairly  judged  of  by 
the  past. 

A  year  ago  general  pardon  and  amnesty,  upon  spec- 
ified terms,  were  ottered  to  all,  except  certain  desig- 
nated classes,  and  it  was,  at  the  same  time  made  known 
that  the  excepted  classes  were  still  within  contem- 
plation of  special  clemency.  During  the  year,  many 
availed  themselves  of  the  general  provision,  and  many 
more  would,  only  that  the  signs  of  bad  faith  in  some, 
led  to  such  precautionary  measures  as  rendered  the 
practical  process  less  easy  and  certain.  During  the 
same  time  also  special  pardons  have  been  granted  to 
individuals  of  the  excepted  classes,  and  no  voluntary 
application  has  been  denied.  Thus,  practically,  the 
door  has  been,  for  a  full  year,  open  to  all,  except  such 
as  were  not  in  condition  to  make  free  choice — that  is, 
such  as  were  in  custody  or  under  constraint.  It  is 
still  so  open  to  all.  But  the  time  may  come— probably 
will  come— when  public  duty  shall  demand  that  it  be 
closed  ;  and  that,  in  lieu,  more  rigorous  measures  than 
heretofore  shall  be  adopted. 

In  presenting  the  abandonment  of  armed  resistance 
to  the  national  authority  on  the  part  <>!'  the  insur- 
gents as  the  only  indispensable  condition  to  ending 
the  war,  on  the  part  of  the  government,  I  retract 
nothing:  heretofore  said  as  to  slavery.  I  repeat  the 
declaration  made  a  year  ago,  that,  "while  I  remain  in 
niv  present  position  I  shall  not  attempt  to  retract  or 
modify  the  emancipation  proclamation,  nor  shall  I 
return  to  slavery  any  person  who  is  free  by  the  terms 
of  that  proclamation,  or  by  any  of  the  acts  of  Con- 
gress."'    If  the  people  should,  by  whatever  mode  or 


404  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

means,  make  it  an  executive  duty  to  re-enslave  such 
persons,  another,  ami  not  I,  must  be  their  instrument 
to  perform  it. 

In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace,  I  mean  sim- 
ply to  say  that  the  war  will  cease  or.  the  part  of  the 
government  whenever  it  shall  have  ceased  on  the  part 
of  those  who  be^an  it.  A.  Lincoln: 

December  6,  1864. 

President   Lincoln  to   Col.  Edmund   D.  Taylor,  of 
Chicago,  III.,  December,  1864. 

My  Dear  Colonel  Dick: — I  have  long  determined  to 
make  public  the  origin  of  the  greenback,  and  tell  the 
world  that  it  is  one  of  Dick  Taylor's  creations.  You 
have  always  been  friendly  to  me,  and  when  troublous 
times  fell  upon  us,  and  my  shoulders,  though  broad 
and  willing,  were  weak,  and  myself  surrounded  by 
such  circumstances  and  such  people  that  I  knew  not 
whom  to  trust,  then  I  said  in  my  extremity,  "I  will 
send  for  Colonel  Taylor ;  he  will  know  what  to  do." 
I  think  it  was  in  January,  1862,  on  or  about  the  16th, 
that  I  did  so.  You  came,  and  I  said  to  you,  "What 
can  we  do  ?';  Said  you,  "  Why,  issue  treasury  notes 
bearing  no  interest,  printed  on  the  best  banking  pa- 
per. Issue  enough  to  pay  ofl  the  army  expenses,  and 
declare  it  legal  tender."  Chase  thought  it  a  hazard- 
ous thing,  but  we  finally  accomplished  it,  and  gave  to 
the  people  of  this  Republic  the  greatest  blessing  they 
ever  had — their  own  paper  to  pay  their  own  debts. 

It  is  due  to  you,  the  father  of  the  present  green- 
back, that  the  people  should  know  it,  and  I  take  great 
pleasure  in  making  it  known.    How  many  times  have 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  405 

I  laughed  at  you  telling-  me  plainly  that  I  was  too 
lazy  to  be  any  thing  but  a  lawyer. 

Yours  truly,  A.  Lincoln,  President. 

T o  G  e n  e b  a  l  Shei t  \ [ an. 
Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  U.,Dec.  26,  1804. 

My  Dear  General  Sherman: — Many,  many  thanka 
for  your  Christmas  gift,  the  capture  of  Savannah. 
When  you  wore  about  to  leave  Atlanta  for  the  At- 
lantic coast,  I  was  anxious,  if  not  fearful;  but,  feel- 
ing that  you  were  the  better  judge,  and  remembering 
that  nothing  risked  nothing  gained,  I  did  not  inter- 
fere. Now,  the  undertaking  being  a  success,  the 
honor  is  all  yours,  for  I  believe  none  of  us  went  fur- 
ther than  to  acquiesce.  And,  taking  the  work  of  Gen- 
eral Thomas  into  the  account,  as  it  should  be  taken, 
it  is  indeed  a  o-reat  success.  Not  only  docs  it  afford 
the  obvious  and  immediate  military  advantages,  but 
in  showing  to  the  world  that  your  army  could  lie 
divided,  putting  the  stronger  part  to  an  important 
new  service,  and  yet  having  enough  to  vanquish  the 
old  opposing  forces  of  the  whole — Hood's  army — it 
brings  those  who  sat  in  darkness  to  see  great  light. 

Please  make  my  grateful  acknowledgment  to  your 
whole  army,  officers  and  men. 

Yours,  very  truly,  A.  Lincoln. 

To  Dit.  John  MacLean. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Dec.  27, 1864. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge 
the  reception  of  your  note  of  the  20th  of  December, 
conveying  the  announcement  that  the  tru  iteea  of  the 


406  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

College  of  New  Jersey  had  conferred  upon  me  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws. 

The  assurance  conveyed  by  this  high  compliment 
that  the  course  of  the  government  which  I  repre- 
sent has  received  the  approval  of  a  body  of  gentle- 
men of  such  character  and  intelligence,  in  this  time 
of  public  trial,  is  most  grateful  to  me. 

Thoughtful  men  must  feel  that  the  fate  of  civiliza- 
tion  upon  the  continent  is  involved  in  the  issue  of 
our  contest. 

Among  the  most  gratifying  proofs  of  this  convic- 
tion is  the  hearty  devotion  every-where  exhibited  by 
our  schools  and  colleges  to  the  national  cause. 

I  am  most  thankful  if  my  labors  have  seemed  to 
conduce  to  the  preservation  of  those  institutions  un- 
der which  alone  we  can  expect  good  government, 
and  in  its  train  sound  learning  and  the  progress  of  the 
liberal  arts.         I  am,  sir,  very  truly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.  Lincoln. 

Upon  Presenting  to  the  President  a  Yase  op  Skele- 
ton Leaves  Gathered  on  the  Battle  Field  of 
Gettysburg,   January   24,  1865,  the    President 
said: 
Reverend  Sir,  and.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — I  accept 
with  emotions  of  profoundest  gratitude  the  beautiful 
gift  you  have  been  pleased  to  present  to  me. 

You  will,  of  course,  expect  that  I  acknowledge  it. 
So  much  lias  been  said  about  Gettysburg,  and  so  well, 
that  for  me  to  attempt  to  say  more  may  perhaps  only 


PKS    AND    VOICE.  407 

serve  to  weaken  the  force  of  that  which  lias  already 
been  said. 

A  most  graceful  and  elegant  tribute  was  paid  to 
the  patriotism  and  self-denying  laborsof  the  American 
ladies  on  the  occasion  of  the  consecration  of  the  Na- 
tional Cemetery  at  Gettysburg-  by  our  illustrious 
friend,  Edward  Everett,  now,  alas,  departed  from 
earth.  His  life  was  a  truly  great  one,  and  I  think  the 
greatest  part  of  it  was  that  which  crowned  its  closing 
years.  I  wish  you  to  read,  if  you  have  not  already 
done  so,  the  eloquent  and  truthful  words  which  he 
then  spoke  of  the  women  of  America.  Truly,  the 
service  they  have  rendered  to  the  defenders  of  our 
country  in  this  perilous  time,  and  are  yet  rendering, 
can  never  be  estimated  as  they  ought  to  be. 

For  your  kind  wishes  to  me  personally  I  beg  leave 
to  render  you  likewise  my  sincerest  thanks.  I  assure 
you  they  are  appreciated. 

And  now,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  may  God  bless  you 

all. 

Letter  to  Governor  Smith,  op  Vermont. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Feb.  8,  1805. 

His  Excellency,  Governor  Smith,  of  Vermont: — Com- 
plaint is  made  to  me,  by  Vermont,  that  the  assign- 
ment of  her  quota  for  the  draft  on  the  pending  call  is 
intrinsically  unjust,  and  also  in  bad  faith  of  the  gov- 
ernment's promise  to  fairly  allow  credits  for  men  pre- 
viously furnished.  To  illustrate,  a  supposed  case  is 
stated  as  follows  : 

Vermont  and  New  Hampshire  must,  between  them, 
furnish  six  thousand  men  on  the  pending  call,  and 
being  equal,  each  must  furnish  as  many  as  the  other 


408  Abraham  Lincoln's  - 

in  the  long  run.  But  the  government  finds  that  on 
former  calls  Vermont  furnished  a  surplus  of  five  hun- 
dred, and  Xew  Hampshire  a  surplus  of  fifteen  hun- 
dred. These  two  surpluses  making  two  thousand, 
and  added  to  the  six  thousand,  making  eight  thou- 
sand to  be  furnished  by  the  two  states,  or  four 
thousand  each,  less  by  fair  credits.  Then  subtract 
Vermont's  surplus  of  five  hundred  from  her  four 
thousand,  leaves  three  thousand  five  hundred  as  her 
quota  on  the  pending  call;  and  likewise  subtract 
Xew  Hampshire's  surplus  of  fifteen  hundred  from 
her  four  thousand,  leaves  two  thousand  five  hundred 
as  her  quota  on  the  pending  call.  These  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  two  thousand  five  hundred 
make  precisely  six  thousand,  which  the  supposed  ease 
requires  from  the  two  states,  and  it  is  just  equal  for 
Vermont  to  furnish  one  thousand  more  now  than 
New  Hampshire,  because  Xew  Hampshire  has  here- 
tofore furnished  one  thousand  more  than  Vermont, 
which  equalizes  the  burdens  of  the  two  in  the  long 
run.  And  this  result,  so  far  from  bein«r  bad  faith  to 
Vermont,  is  indispensable  to  keeping  good  faith  with 
New  Hampshire.  By  no  other  result  can  the  six 
thousand  men  be  obtained  from  the  two  states,  and 
at  the  same  time  deal  justly  and  keep  faith  with  both, 
and  we  do  but  confuse  ourselves  in  questioning  the 
process  by  which  the  right  result  is  reached.  The 
supposed  case  is  perfect  as  an  illustration. 

The  pending  call  is  not  for  three  hundred  thousand 
men,  subject  to  fair  credits,  but  is  for  three  hundred 
thousand  remaining  after  all  fair  credits  have  been 
deducted,  and  it  is  impossible  to  concede  what  Ver- 


PEN    AND   VOICE.  409 

mont  asks  without  coming  out  short  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men,  or  making  other  localities  pay  for  the 
partiality  shown  her. 

This  upon  the  case  stated:  If  there  be  different 
reasons  for  making  an  allowance  to  Vermont,  let 
them  be  presented  and  considered. 

Yours  truly,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

President  Lincoln  Dictated  the  following  to  Sec- 
retary !Stanton,  to  be  Sent  to  General  Grant. 

March  3,  1865. 
The  president  directs  me  to  say  to  you  that  he 
wishes  you  to.  have  no  conference  with  General  Lee, 
unless  it  be  for  the  capitulation  of  Lee's  army,  or  on 
some  minor  or  purely  military  matter.  He  instructs 
me  to  say  that  you  are  not  to  decide,  discuss,  or  con- 
fer upon  any  political  question.  Such  questions  the 
President  holds  in  his  own  hands,  and  will  submit 
them  to  no  military  conferences  or  conventions.  In 
the  meantime  you  are  to  press  to  the  utmost  your 
military  advantages. 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1865. 

Fellow- Countrymen: — At  this  second  appearing  to 
take  the  oath  of  the  presidential  office,  there  is  less 
occasion  for  an  extended  address  than  there  wras  at 
the  first.  Then  a  statement  somewhat  in  detail  of  a 
course  to  be  pursued  seemed  very  fitting  and  proper. 
Now,  at  the  expiration  of  four  years,  during  which 
public  declarations  have  been  constantly  called  forth 
on  every  point  and  phase  of  the  great  contest  which 
35 


410  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

still  absorbs  the  attention  and  engrosses  the  energies 
of  the  nation,  little  that  is  new  could  be  presented. 

The  progress  of  our  arms,  upon  which  all  else 
chiefly  depends,  is  as  well  known  to  the  public  as  to 
myself,  and  it  is,  I  trust,  reasonably  satisfactory  and 
encouraging  to  all.  With  high  hope  for  the  future, 
no  prediction  in  regard  to  it  is  ventured.  On  the 
occasion  corresponding  to  this  four  years  ago,  all 
thoughts  were  anxiously  directed  to  an  impending 
civil  war.  All  dreaded  it;  all  sought  to  avert  it. 
While  the  inaugural  address  was  being  delivered 
from  tins  place,  devoted  altogether  to  saving  the 
Union  without  war,  insurgent  agents  were  in  the 
city  seeking  to  destroy  it  without  war — seeking  to 
dissolve  the  Union  and  divide  effects  by  negotiation. 
Both  parties  deprecated  war;  but  one  of  them  would 
make  war  rather  than  let  the  nation  survive,  and  the 
other  would  accept  war  rather  than  let  it  perish.  And 
the  war  came.  One-eighth  of  the  whole  population 
were  colored  slaves,  not  distributed  generally  over 
the  Union,  but  localized  in  the  southern  part  of  it. 

These  slaves  constituted  a  peculiar  and  powerful 
interest.  All  knew  that  this  interest  was  somehow 
the  cause  of  the  war.  To  strengthen,  perpetuate  and 
extend  this  interest  was  the  object  for  which  the  in- 
surgents would  rend  the  Union,  even  by  war,  while 
the  government  claimed  no  right  to  do  more  than  to 
restrict  the  territorial  enlargement  of  it. 

Neither  party  expected  for  the  war  the  magnitude 
or  the  duration  which  it  has  already  attained. 
Neither  anticipated  that  the  cause  of  the  conflict 
might  cease  with,  or  even  before,  the  conflict  itself 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  411 

should  cease.    Each  looked  for  an  easier  triumph,  and 
a  result  less  fundamental  and  astounding. 

Both  read  the  same  Bible,  and  pray  to  the  same 
God  ;  and  each  invokes  His  aid  against  the  other. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  any  man  should  dare  to 
ask  a  just  God's  assistance  in  wringing  their  bread 
from  the  sweat  of  other  men's  faces;  but  let  us  judge 
not,  that  we  be  not  judged. 

The  prayers  of  both  could  not  be  answered.  That 
of  neither  has  been  answered  fully.  The  Almighty 
has  His  own  purposes. 

'•  Woe  unto  the  world  because  of  offenses,  for  it 
must  needs  be  that  offenses  conic:  but  woe  to  that 
man  by  whom  the  offense  cometh."  If  we  shall  sup- 
pose that  American  slavery  is  one  of  these  offenses, 
which  in  the  providence  of  (bid  must  needs  come, 
but  which,  having  continued  through  His  appointed 
time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that  lie  gives  to 
both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe 
due  to  those  by  whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  dis- 
cern therein  any  departure  from  those  divine  attri- 
butes which  the  believers  in  a  living  God  always 
ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fervently  do 
we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speed- 
ily pass  away.  Yet,  if  God  wills  that  it  continue 
until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the  bondman's  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall  be  sunk, 
and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  with  another  drawn  with  the  sword;  as 
was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be 
said,  "  The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  right- 
eous altogether." 


412  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,  with 
firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  ns  to  see  the  right, 
let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in  ;  to  bind 
up  the  nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall 
have  borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  or- 
phans; to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a 
just  and  a  lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with 
all  nations. 

President  Lincoln  to  Thurlow  Weed. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  March  15,1865. 

Dear  Mr.  Weed: — Every  one  likes  a  compliment. 
Thank  you  for  yours  on  my  little  notification  speech 
and  on  the  recent  inaugural  address.  I  expect  the 
latter  to  wear  as  well  as,  perhaps  better  than,  any 
thing  I  have  produced  ;  but  1  believe  it  is  not  imme- 
diately popular. 

Men  are  not  flattered  by  being  shown  that  there 
has  been  a  difference  of  purpose  between  the  Al- 
mighty and  them. 

To  deny  it,  however,  in  this  case,  is  to  deny  that 
there  is  a  God  governing  the  world. 

It  is  a  truth  which  I  thought  needed  to  be  told, 
and,  as  whatever  of  humiliation  there  is  in  it  falls 
most  directly  on  myself,  I  thought  others  might  af- 
ford for  me  to  tell  it.       Truly,  yours,     A.  Lincoln. 

Introduced  by  Governor  Morton,  from  National 
Hotel,  Washington,  I).  C,  March  17,  1865,  and 
the  President's  Response. 

Fellow-citizens : — It  will  be  but  a  very  few  words 
that  I  shall  undertake  to  say.     I  was  born  in  Ken- 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  413 

tueky,  raised  in  Indiana,  and  lived  in  Illinois;  and 
now  I  am  here,  where  it  is  my  business  to  rare  equally 
for  the  good  people  of  all  the  states. 

I  am  glad  to  see  an  Indiana  regiment  on  this  day 
able  to  present  the  captured  Hag  to  the  governor  of 
Indiana. 

I  am  not  disposed,  in  saying  this,  to  make  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  states,  for  all  have  done  equally 

well. 

There  are  but  few  views  or  aspects  of  this  great 
war  upon  which  I  have  not  said  or  written  some- 
thing, whereby  my  own  opinion  might  be  known. 
But  there  is  one — the  recent  attempt  of  our  erring 
brethren,  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  to  employ  the 
negro  to  fight  for  them.  I  have  neither  written  nor 
made  a  speech  on  that  subject,  because  that  was  their 
business,  not  mine;  and  if  I  had  a  wish  upon  the 
subject,  I  had  not  the  power  to  introduce  it,  or  make 
it  effective.  The  great  question  with  them  was 
whether  the  negro,  being  put  into  the  army,  will 
light  for  them.  I  do  not  know,  and  therefore  can 
not  decide.  They  ought  to  know  better  than  wc.  I 
have  in  my  lifetime  heard  many  arguments  why  the 
negroes  ought  to  be  slaves  ;  hut  if  they  fight  for  tliose 
who  would  keep  them  in  slavery,  it  will  be  a  better 
argument  than  all  I  have  yet  heard.  ITc  who  will 
fight  for  that  ought  to  be  a  slave.  They  have  con- 
eluded  at  last  to  take  one  out  of  four  of  the  slaves 
and  put  them  in  the  army;  and  that  one  out  of  four 
who  will  fight  to  keep  the  others  in  slavery  ought  to 
be  a  slave  himself,  unless  he  is  killed  in  a  light. 

"While  I  have  often  said  that  all  men  ought  to  be 


414  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

free,  yet  would  I  allow  those  colored  persons  to  be 
slaves  who  want  to  he,  and  next  to  them  those  white 
people  who  argue  in  favor  of  making  other  people 
slaves.  I  am  in  favor  of  giving  an  appointment  to 
such  white  men  to  try  it  on  for  these  slaves.  I  will 
say  one  thing  in  regard  to  the  negroes  being  employed 
to  fight  for  them.  I  do  know  he  can  not  tight  and 
stay  at  home  and  make  bread  too.  And  as  one  is 
about  as  important  as  the  other  to  them,  I  don't  care 
which  they  do.  I  am  rather  in  favor  of  having  them 
try  them  as  soldiers.  They  lack  one  vote  of  doing 
that,  and  I  wish  I  could  send  my  vote  over  the  river 
so  that  I  might  east  it  in  favor  of  allowing  the  negro 
to  fight.  But  they  can  not  fight  and  work  both.  We 
mnst  now  see  the  bottom  of  the  enemy's  resources. 
They  will  stand  out  as  long  as  they  can,  and  if  the 
negro  will  fight  for  them,  they  must  allow  him  to 
fight.  They  have  drawn  upon  their  last  branch  of  re- 
sources, and  we  can  now  see  the  bottom.  I  am  glad 
to  see  the  end  so  near  at  hand.  I  have  said  now 
more  than  I  intended,  and  will  therefore  bid  you 
goodbye. 

City  Point,  Virginia,  April  2,  8:30  p.  m. 

At  4:30  P.  M.  to-day  General  Grant  telegraphs  as 
follows : 

We  arc  now  up,  and  have  a  continuous  line  of 
troops,  and  in  a  few  hours  will  be  intrenched  from 
the  Appomattox  below  Petersburg  to  the  river  above. 
The  whole  captures  since  the  army  started  out  will 
not  amount  to  less  than  twelve  thousand  men,  and 
probably  fifty  pieces  of  artillery.     I  do  not  know  the 


PEN  AND  VOICE.  415 

number  of  mon  and  guns  accurately,  however.  A  por- 
tion of  Foster's  Division,  Twenty-fourth  Corps,  made 
a  must  gallant  charge  this  afternoon,  and  captured  a 
a  very  important  fort  from  the  enemy,  with  its  entire 
garrison. 

All  seems  well  with  us,  and  every  thing  is  quiet 
just  now.  A.  Lincoln. 

City  Point,  Virginia,  April  2,  2  p.  m. 

At  10:45  a.  m.  General  Grant  telegraphs  as  fol- 
lows : 

Every  thing  has  been  carried  from  the  left  of  the 
Ninth  Corps.  The  Sixth  Corps  alone  captured  more 
than  six  thousand  prisoners.  Tin1  Second  and  Twenty- 
fourth  Corps  captured  forts,  guns  and  prisoners  from 
the  enemy,  but  I  can  not  tell  the  numbers.  We  arc 
now  closing  around  the  works  of  the  line  immediately 
enveloping  Petersburg.  All  looks  remarkably  well. 
I  have  not  yet  heard  from  Sheridan.  IPs  head- 
quarters have  been  moved  up  to  Bank's  House,  near 
the  Boydton  road,  about  three  miles  south-west  of 
Petersburg.  A.  Lincoln. 

Telegram  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

At  12:30  p.  M.  to-day  General  Grant  telegraphed  me 
as  follows: 

There  has  been  much  hard  fighting  this  morning. 
The  enemy  drove  our  left  from  near  Dabney's  house 
back  well  toward  the  Boydton  pland-road.  We  arc 
now  about  to  take  the  offensive  at  that  point,  and  I 
hope  will  more  than  recover  the  lost  ground. 

Later  he  telegraphed  again  as  follows: 


416  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

Our  troops,  after  being  driven  back  to  the  Boydton 
plank-road,  turned  and  drove  the  enemy  in  turn,  and 
took  the  White  Oak  road,  which  we  now  have.  This 
gives  us  the  ground  occupied  by  the  enemy  this  morn- 
ing. I  will  send  you  a  rebel  flag  captured  by  our 
troops  in  driving  the  enemy  back.  There  have  been 
four  flags  captured  to-day. 

Judging  by  the  two  points  from  which  General 
Grant  telegraphs,  I  infer  that  he  moved  his  head- 
quarters about  one  mile  since  he  sent  the  first  of  die 
two  dispatches.  A.  Lincoln. 

To  £.  M.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War. 

City  Point,  Virginia,  April  2,  1865,  8:30  a.  m. 

Last  night  General  Grant  telegraphed  that  General 
Sheridan,  with  his  cavalry  and  the  Fifth  Corps,  had 
captured  three  brigades  of  infantry,  a  train  of  wagons, 
and  several  batteries;  the  prisoners  amounting  to 
several  thousand. 

This  morning  General  Grant,  having  ordered  an  at- 
tack along  the  whole  line,  telegraphs  as  follows  : 

Both  Wright  and  Parke  got  through  the  enemy's 
lines.  The  battle  now  rages  furiously.  General 
Sheridan,  with  his  cavalry,  the  Fifth  Corps,  and 
Miles'  Division  of  the  Second  Corps,  which  was  sent 
to  him  this  morning,  is  now  sweeping  down  from  the 
west. 

All  now  looks  highly  favorable.  General  Ord  is 
engaged,  but  I  have  not  yet  heard  the  result  in  his 
front.  A.  Lincoln. 


pen  and  voice.  417 

Dispatch  to  Secretary  Stanton,  April  3,  1865. 

This  morning  Lieutenant-General  Grant  reports 
Petersburg  evacuated,  and  he  is  confident  that  Rich- 
mond also  is. 

He  is  pushing  forward  to  cut  oft",  if  possible,  the  re- 
treating rebel  army.  A.  Lincoln. 

President's  Order. 

Headquarters  Armies  of  the  United  States, 

City  Point,  April  6,  1865. 
It  has  been  intimated  to  me,  that  the  gentlemen 
who  have  acted  as  the  legislature  of  Virginia,  in  sup- 
port of  the  rebellion,  may  now  desire  to  assemble  at 
Richmond,  and  take  measures  to  withdraw  the  Vir- 
ginia troops,  and  other  support  from  resistance  to  the 
general  government.  If  they  attempt  it,  give  them 
permission  and  protection,  until,  if  at  all,  they  at- 
tempt some  action  hostile  to  the  United  States,  in 
which  case  you  will  notify  them,  give  then}  reasonable 
time  to  leave,  and  at  the  end  of  which  time  arrest 
any  who  remain.  Allow  judge  Campbell  to  see  this, 
but  do  not  make  it  public.     Yours,  etc., 

A.  Lincoln. 

Last   Public   Speech  ever  Delivered  by  President 
Lincoln,  April  11,  1865. 

After  tin;  fall  of  Richmond  and  the  surrender  of 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  President  Lincoln 
was  called  upon  in  Washington,  and  made  these  re- 
marks : 

[We  meet  this  evening,  not  in  sorrow,  but  in  glad- 


418  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN^ 

ness  of  heart.  The  evacuation  of  Petersburg  and 
Richmond,  and  the  surrender  of  the  principal  in- 
surgent army,  give  hope  of  a  righteous  and  speedy 
peace,  whose  joyous  expression  can  not  be  restrained. 
In  the  midst  of  this,  however,  He  from  whom  all 
blessings  flow  must  not  be  forgotten.  A  call  for  a 
national  thanksgiving  is  being  prepared  and  will  be 
duly  promulgated.  Nor  must  those  whose  harder 
part  give  us  the  cause  of  rejoicing  be  overlooked. 
Their  honors  must  not  be  parceled  out  with  others. 
I  myself  was  near  the  front,  and  had  the  high  pleas- 
ure of  transmitting  much  of  the  good  news  to  }'ou, 
but  no  part  of  the  honor,  for  plan  or  execution,  is 
mine.  To  General  Grant,  his  skillful  officers,  and 
brave  men  all  belongs.  The  gallant  navy  stood 
ready,  but  did  not  in  reach  to  take  active  part. 

By  these  recent  successes,  the  reinauguration  of  the 
national  authority,  reconstruction,  which  has  had  a 
large  share  of  thought  from  the  first,  is  pressed  much 
more  closely  upon  our  attention.  It  is  fraught  with 
great  difficulty.  Unlike  the  case  of  a  war  between 
independent  nations,  there  is  no  authorized  organ  for 
us  to  treat  with.  No  one  man  has  authority  to  give 
up  the  rebellion  for  any  other  man.  We  simply  must 
begin  with  and  mold  from  disorganized  and  discord- 
ant elements.  Nor  is  it  a  small  additional  embarrass- 
ment that  we,  the  loyal  people,  differ  among  ourselves 
as  to  the  mode,  manner,  and  means  of  reconstruction. 

As  a  general  rule,  I  abstain  from  reading  the  re- 
ports of  attacks  upon  myself,  wishing  not  to  be  pro- 
voked by  that  to  which  I  can  not  properly  offer  an 
answer.     In   spite    of    this    precaution,   however,    it 


PEN    AND   VOICE.  419 

cciiies  to  my  knowledge  that  I  am  censured  from 
some  supposed  agency  in  setting  up  and  seeking  to 
sustain  the  new  state  government  of  Louisiana.  In 
this  1  have  done  just  so  much  as  and  no  more  than 
the  public  knows.  In  the  annual  message  of  Decem- 
ber, 1863,  and  accompanying  proclamation,  I  pre- 
sented a  plan  of  reconstruction  (as  the"  phrase  goes), 
which  I  promised,  if  adopted  by  any  state,  should  be 
acceptable  to  and  sustained  by  the  executive  govern- 
ment of  the  nation.  I  distinctly  stated  that  this  was 
not  the  only  plan  which  might  possibly  be  acceptable, 
and  I  also  distinctly  protested  that  the  executive 
claimed  no  right  to  say  when  or  whether  members 
should  be  admitted  to  seats  in  Congress  from  such 
states.  This  plan  was  in  advance  submitted  to  the 
then  cabinet,  and  distinctly  approved  by  every  mem-, 
ber  of  it.  One  of  them  suggested  that  I  should  then 
and  in  that  connection  apply  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  to  the  theretofore  excepted  parts  of 
Virginia  and  Louisiana ;  that  I  should  drop  the  sug- 
gestion about  apprenticeship  for  freed  people,  and 
that  I  should  omit  the  protest  against  my  own  power, 
in  regard  to  the  admission  of  members  of  Congress, 
but  even  he  approved  every  part  and  parcel  of  the 
plan  which  has  since  been  employed  or  touched  by 
the  action  of  Louisiana. 

The  new  constitution  of  Louisiana,  declaring 
emancipation  for  the  whole  state,  practically  applies 
the  proclamation  to  the  part  previously  excepted. 
It  does  not  adopt  apprenticeship  for  freed  people, 
and  it  is  silent,  as  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise, 
about  the   admission    of  members    to  Congress.     So 


420  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

that,  as  it  applies  to  Louisiana,  every  member  of  the 
cabinet  fully  approved  the  plan. 

The  message  went  to  Congress,  and  I  received 
many  commendations  of  the  plan,  written  and  verbal, 
and  not  a  single  objection  to  it  from  any  professed 
emancipationist  came  to  my  knowledge  until  after 
the  news  reached  Washington  that  the  people  of 
Louisiana  had  begun  to  move  in  accordance  with  it. 
From  about  July,  1862, 1  had  corresponded  with  differ- 
ent persons  supposed  to  be  interested,  seeking  a  recon- 
struction of  a  state  government  for  Louisiana.  When 
the  message  of  1863,  with  the  plan  before  mentioned 
reached  New  Orleans,  General  Banks  wrote  me  he 
was  confident  that  the  people,  with  his  military  co- 
operation, would  reconstruct  substantially  on  that 
.plan.  I  wrote  him  and  some  of  them  to  try  it. 
They  tried  it,  and  the  result  is  known. 

Such  only  has  been  my  agency  in  getting  up  the 
Louisiana  government.  As  to  sustaining  it,  my 
promise  is  out,  as  before  stated.  But  as  bad  promises 
are  better  broken  than  kept,  I  shall  treat  this  as  a 
bad  promise  and  break  it  whenever  I  shall  be  con- 
vinced that  keeping  it  is  adverse  to  the  public  in- 
terest.    But  I  have  not  yet  been  so  convinced. 

I  have  been  shown  a  letter  on  this  subject,  sup- 
posed to  be  an  able  one,  in  which  the  writer  ex- 
presses regret  that  my  mind  has  not  seemed  to  be 
definitely  fixed  on  the  question  whether  the  seceded 
states,  so  called,  are  in  the  Union  or  out  of  it. 

It  would,  perhaps,  add  astonishment  to  his  regret, 
were  he  to  learn  that,  since  I  have  found  professed 
Union    men    endeavoring  to   make  that  question,  I 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  121 

have  'purposely  forborne  any  public  expression  upon 
it.  As  appears  to  me,  that  question  has  not  been,  nor 
vet  is,  a  practically  material  one,  and  that  any  discus- 
sion of  it,  while  it  thus  remains  practically  immate- 
rial, could  have  no  effect  other  than  the  mischievous 
one  of  dividing  our  friends.  As  yet,  whatever  it  may 
hereafter  become,  that  question  is  had  as  a  basis  of  a 
controversy,  and  good  for  nothing  at  all  as  merely  a 
pernicious  abstraction.  We  all  agree  that  the  seceded 
states,  so  called,  are  out  of  their  proper  practical  re- 
lation with  the  Union,  and  that  the  sole  object  of  the 
government,  civil  and  military,  in  regard  to  those 
states,  is  to  again  get  them  into  that  proper  practical 
relation.  I  believe  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  in  fact 
easier,  to  do  this  without  deciding,  or  even  consider- 
ing, whether  these  states  have  ever  been  out  of  the 
Union,  than  with  it.  Finding  themselves  safely  at 
home,  it  would  be  utterly  immaterial  whether  they 
had  ever  been  abroad.  Let  us  all  join  in  doing  the 
acts  necessary  to  restoring  the  proper  practical  rela- 
tions between  these  states  and  the  Union,  and  each 
forever  after  innocently  indulge  his  own  opinion 
whether,  in  doing  the  acts,  he  brought  the  state  from 
without  into  the  Union,  or  only  gave  them  proper 
assistance,  they  never  having  been  out  of  it. 

The  amount  of  constituency,  so  to  speak,  on  which 
the  new  Louisiana  government  rests,  would  be  more 
satisfactory  to  all  if  it  contained  fifty,  thirty,  or  even 
twenty  thousand,  instead  of  only  about  twelve  thou- 
sand, as  it  really  does.  It  is  also  unsatisfactory  to 
some  that  the  elective  franchise  is  not  given  to  the 
colored  men.     I  would   myself  prefer    that   it  were 


422  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S 

now  conferred  on  the  very  intelligent,  and  on  those 
who  serve  our  cause  as  soldiers.  Still,  the  question  is 
not  whether  the  Louisiana  government,  as  it  stands, 
is  quite  all  that  is  desirable.  The  question  is,  "  Will 
it  he  wise,  take  it  as  it  is,  and  help  to  improve  it,  or 
to  reject  and  disperse  it  ? ,:  "Can  Louisiana  he 
brought  into  proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union 
sooner  by  sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  state 
government  ?  " 

Some  twelve  thousand  voters  in  the  heretofore 
slave  state  of  Louisiana  have  sworn  allegiance  to  the 
Union,  assumed  to  he  the  rightful  political  power  of 
the  state,  held  elections,  organized  a  state  govern- 
ment, adopted  a  free  state  constitution,  giving  Urn 
benefit  of  public  schools  equally  to  black  and  white, 
and  empowering  the  legislature  to  confer  the  elective 
franchise  upon  the  colored  man.  Their  legislature 
has  already  voted  to  ratify  the  constitutional  amend- 
ment recently  passed  by  Congress  abolishing  slavery 
throughout  the  nation.  These  twelve  thousand  per- 
sons are  thus  fully  committed  to  the  Union,  and  to 
perpetual  freedom  in  the  states — committed  to  the 
very  things  and  nearly  all  the  things  the  nation 
wants — and  they  ask  the  nation's  recognition,  and  its 
assistance  to  make  good  that  committal. 

Now,  if  we  reject  and  spurn  them,  we  do  our  ut- 
most to  disorganize  and  disperse  them.  We,  in 
effect,  say  to  the  white  men,  "You  are  worthless,  or 
worse;  we  will  neither  help  you  nor  be  helped  by 
you."  To  the  blacks  we  say,  "This  cup  of  liberty 
which  these,  your  old  masters,  hold  to  your  lips,  we 
will  dash  from  you,  and  leave  you  to  the  chances  of 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  4-3 

gathering  the  spilled  and  scattered  contents  in  some 
vague  and  undefined  when,  where,  and  how/'  If 
this  course,  discouraging  and  paralyzing  both  black 

and  white,  has  any  tendency  to  bring  Louisiana  into 
proper  practical  relations  with  the  Union,  I  have,  so 
far,  been  unable  to  perceive  it.  If,  on  the  contrary, 
we  recognize  and  sustain  the  new  government  of 
Louisiana,  the  converse  of  all    this  is  made  true. 

We  encourage  the  hearts  and  nerve  tin;  arms  of  tie- 
twelve  thousand  to  adhere  to  their  work  and  argue 
for  it,  and  proselyte  for  it,  and  fight  for  it,  ami  feci 
it,  and  grow  it,  and  ripen  it  to  a  complete  success. 
The  colored  man,  too,  seeing  all  united  for  him,  is 
inspired  with  vigilance,  and  energy,  ami  daring,  to 
the  same  end.  Grant  that  he  desires  the  elective 
franchise,  will  he  not  attain  it  sooner  by  saving  the. 
already  advanced  steps  toward  it  than  by  running 
backward  over  them  ?  Concede  that  the  new  govern- 
ment of  Louisiana  is  only  to  what  it  should  he  as  the 
v<r<r  is  to  the  fowl;  we  shall  sooner  have  the  fowl  by 
hatching  the  egg  than  by  smashing  it. 

Again,  if  we  reject  Louisiana,  we  also  reject  one 
vote  in  favor  of  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  Na- 
tional Constitution. 

To  meet  this  proposition,  it  has  been  argued  that 
no  more  than  three-fourths  of  those  states  which 
have  not  attempted  secession  are  necessary  to  validly 
ratify  the  amendment 

I  do  not  commit  myself  against  this  further  than 
to  say  that  such  a  ratification  would  be  questionable, 
and  sure  to  be  persistently  questioned,  whilst  a  ratifi- 


424  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S 

cation  by  three-fourths  of  all  the  states  would  be  un- 
questioned and  unquestionable. 

I  repeat  the  question,  "  can  Louisiana  be  brought  in- 
to proper  practical  relation  with  the  Union  sooner  by 
sustaining  or  by  discarding  her  new  state  government  ?" 
What  has  been  said  of  Louisiana  will  apply  generally  to 
other  states.  And  yet  so  great  peculiarities  pertain 
to  each  state,  and  such  important  and  sudden  changes 
occur  in  the  same  state,  and,  with  all,  so  new  and  un- 
precedented is  the  whole  case,  that  no  exclusive  and 
inflexible  plan  can  safely  be  prescribed  as  to  details  and 
collaterals.  Such  exclusive  and  inflexible  plan  would 
surely  become  a  new  entanglement.  Important  prin- 
ciples may,  and  must,  be  inflexible. 

In  the  present  situation,  as  the  phrase  goes,  it  may 
be  my  duty  to  make  some  new  announcement  to  the 
people  of  the  south.  I  am  considering,  and  shall  not 
fail  to  act  when  satisfied  that  action  will  be  proper. 

Last  Public  Utterances  of  President  Lincoln, 
April  14,  1865. 

Mr.  Colfax — I  want  you  to  take  a  message  from  me 
to  the  miners  whom  you  visit.  I  have  very  large 
ideas  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  our  nation.  I  believe 
it  practically  inexhaustible.  It  abounds  all  over  the 
western  country,  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the 
Pacific,  and  its  development  has  scarcely  commenced. 
During  the  war,  when  we  were  adding  a  couple  mill- 
ions of  dollars  every  day  to  our  national  debt,  I  did 
not  care  about  encouraging  the  increase  in  the  volume 
of  our  precious  metals.  We  had  the  country  to  save 
first.     But  now  that  the  rebellion  is  overthrown,  and 


PEN    AND    VOICE.  425 

we  know  pretty  nearly  the  amount  of  our  national 
debt,  the  more  gold  and  silver  we  mine,  we  make  the 
payment  of  that  debt  so  much  the  easier.  Now,  I  am 
going  to  encourage  that  in  every  possible  way.  We 
shall  have  hundred  of  thousands  of  disbanded  soldiers, 
and  many  have  feared  that  their  return  home  in  such 
great  numbers  might  paralyze  industry,  by  furnishing, 
suddenly,  a  greater  supply  of  labor  than  there  will  be 
ademand  for.  I  am  going  to  try  to  attract  them  to  the 
hidden  wealth  of  our  mountain  ranges,  where  there  is 
room  enough  for  all.  Immigration,  which  even  the 
war  has  not  stopped,  will  land  upon  our  shores 
hundreds  of  thousands  more  per  year  from  over- 
crowded Europe.  I  intend  to  point  them  to  the  gold 
and  silver  that  wait  for  them  in  the  west.  Tell  the 
miners  for  me,  that  I  shall  promote  their  interests  to 
the  utmost  of  my  ability,  because  their  prosperity  is 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation;  and  we  shall  prove,  in 
a  very  few  years,  that  we  are  indeed  the  treasury  of 
the  world. 

In  carriage  going  to  theater.      Last  written  words. 

Allow  Mr.  Ashmun  and  friend   to  come  to  me  at  9 
o'clock  a.  m.  to-morrow,  April  15,  1865. 


A.  Lincoln. 


FUNEE  \l.  HYMN. 


Rest,  noble  martyr;    rest  in  peace; 

Rest  with  the  true  and  brave, 
Who,  like  thee,  fell  in  freedom's  cause, 

The  nation's  life  to  save. 

36 


426  ABRAHAM    LINCOLN'S    PEN    AND    VOICE. 

Thy  name  shall  live  while  time  endures, 
And  men  shall  say  of  thee, 

"He  saved  his  country  from  its  foes,  . 
And  bade  the  slave  be  free." 

These  deeds  shall  be  thy  monument, 
Better  than  brass  or  stone ; 

They  leave  thy  fame  in  Glory's  light, 
Unrivaled  and  alone. 

This  consecrated  spot  shall  be, 

To  Freedom  ever  dear ; 
And  Freedom's  sons  of  every  race, 

Shall  weep  and  worship  here. 

O  God!  before  whom  we,  in  tears, 
Our  fallen  Chief  deplore  ; 

Grant  that  the  cause  for  which  he  died, 
May  live  forever  more. 


THE    END. 


THE    NATIONAL   LINCOLN   MONUMENT,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL 

FACING   SOUTH. 
From  Power's  History  of  the  Attempt  to  Steal  Hie  Body  of  Lincoln  ) 


THE    NATIONAL    LINCOLN    MONUMENT. 

FACING    NORTH. 

From  Powers  History  oi  the  Attempt  lo  steal  the  Body  of  Lincoln. 


INDEX. 


PAGE, 

Address  to  Committee  notifying  him  of  his  First  Nomina- 
tion to  the  Presidency,  May  18,  1800 13 

Address  at  Springfield,  111.,  February  11,  1861 is 

Address  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  February  1 1,  18G1 19 

Address  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.  (evening),  February  1  I,  1861..  2<> 

Address  at  Cincinnati,  0.,  February  12,  1861 22 

Address  at  Columbus,  O.,  February  13, 1861 25 

Address  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  February  15,  1861 27 

Address  at  Albany,  X.  Y.,  February  18,  1861 31 

Address  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  (evening),  February  18,  1861 32 

Address  at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  February  18,  1861 3  1 

Address  at  Hudson,  N.  Y.,  February  19,  1861 34 

Address  at  Pougbkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  February  19,  1861 35 

Address  at  Fishkill  Landing,  N.  Y.,  February  19,  1861 36 

Address  at  Peekskill,  X.  Y.,  February  19,  1S61 36 

Address  at  New  York  City,  N.  Y.,  February  20,  186] 37 

Address  at  Trenton,  N.  J.,  February  21,  1861 39 

Address  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  February  22,  1861 -II 

Address  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  February  22,  L861 42 

Address  at  Serenade,  Washington,  D.  C,  February  28,  L861..  47 

Address  to  Delegates  from  Virginia,  April  13,  L861.. 64 

Address  to  Frontier  Guards,  April  28,  1861 69 

Address  to  Baltimore  Committee,  April  28,  1861 69 

Address  on  Retirement  of  General  Scott,  November  1.  1861.  105 
A.ddress  to  the  "Senators  and  Representatives  of  the  Border 

States,  July,  ISC2 171 

Address  at  a  Union  Meeting  in  Washington,  August  6,  1862.  184 

Address  on  Colonization,  August  1  !.  1862 186 

Address  Respecting  the   issue  <>f    Emancipation    Proclama- 

mation,  September  13,  1862 196 

(427) 


428  INDEX. 

Address  at  Serenade  in  Honor  of  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, September  24,  1862 204 

Address  to  Major  John  J.  Key,  September  26,  1862 205 

Address  to  Army  of  the  Potomac,  December  22,  1862 281 

Address  at  a  Serenade,  July,  1863 281 

Address  at  the  Dedication  of  Gettysburg  Cemetery,  Novem- 
ber 19,  1S63 329 

Quotation  from  Speech  of  Daniel  Webster 330 

Address  at  Patent  Office,  Washington,  March  16,  1S64 349 

Address  at  the  Baltimore  Fair,  April  18,  1864 354 

Address  at  Serenade  at  Washington,  D.  C,  May  13,  1864 362 

Address  to  Committee  on  Re-nomination,  June  9,  1864 364 

Address  to  National  Union  League,  June  9,  1864 365 

Address  at  Philadelphia  Fair,  June  16,  1864 366 

Address  at  Serenade,  September,  1864 376 

Address  to  148th  Ohio  Regiment,  September,  1864 382 

Address  to  another  Ohio  Regiment,  September,  1864 378 

Address,  called  his  last,  shortest,  and  best,  September,  1864..  384 

Address  at  a  Serenade,  October  19,  1864 „ 385 

Address  at  a  Serenade  by  Club  of  Pennsylvanians,  Novem- 
ber 9,  1864 389 

Address  at  a  Serenade  to  Lincoln  and  Johnson  Clubs,  No- 
vember 10,  1864 390 

Address  upon  Receipt  of  Vase  of  Skeleton  Leaves,  January 

21,  1865 406 

Address  from  National  Hotel,  Washington,  March  17,  1865..  412 
Address,  last  deli  ered  by  Lincoln,  April  11,  1865        ,,  417 

INAUGURAL   ADDRESSES. 

Address,  First  Inaugural,  March  4,  1861 „.     48 

Address,  Second  Inaugural,  March  4,  1865 .......... ,  409 

LETTERS    TO    HIS   GENERALS. 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  August  15,  1861 96 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  Sejitember  2,  1861 98 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  September  22,  1861 100 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  May  24, 1862 142 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  May  24,  1862.. 143 


INDEX. 


429 


Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont.  May  20,  1862 1  tt 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont   June  9,  1862 155 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  June  12,  1862 155 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  June  13,  1862 155 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  June  15,  1862 156 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  June  16,  1862 158 

Letter  to  Major-General  Fremont,  September  11,  1862 193 

Letter  to  Major-General  Balleck,  December  2,  1861 121 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  January  1,  1862 124 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  January  15,  1862 124 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  February  16,  1862 121 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  May  21,  1862 1  I  I 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  July  2,  1862 168 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  July  6,  1802 284 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  July  6,  1803 170 

Letter  to  Major-General  Halleck,  July  29,  1863 293 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  February  3,  1862 120 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  April  9,  1862 133 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  May  9  1862 138 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  May  21,  1862 141 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  May  2.".,  1862 1  I  1 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  May  2.".,  1862 I  I  ' 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  May  23,  1862 1  18 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  Maj  31,  1862 154 

Letter  tc  Major-General  McClellan,  June  I,  1862 L54 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  June  20,  1862 160 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  June  21,  1862 161 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  June  26,  1862 162 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  June  28,  L862 163 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  July  1,  1862 166 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  July  2,  L862 167 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  July  3,  1862 168 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  July  4,  1862 109 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  July  13,  1862 171 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  October  13,  1862 207 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  October  25,  1862 213 

Letter  to  Major-General  McClellan,  October  26,  1862 213 

Letter  to  General  Buell,  January  0,  1862 121 


430 


INDEX. 


Letter 
Letter 

Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 


o  General  Buell,  January  7,  1862 122 

o  General  Buell,  January  13,  18G2 123 

o  General  Buell  March  10,  1862 131 

o  General  Saxton,  May  24,  1862 142 

o  General  Saxton,  May  2"..  1 SG2 144 

o  General  Saxton,  May  25,  1862 146 

o  General  Saxton,  May  25,  1862 147 

o  General  McDowell,  May  24,  1862 143 

o  General  McDowell,  May  28,  1862 * 148 


o  Major-^Tenera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
c.  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Gen  era 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-<  lenera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 
o  Major-Genera 


Hooker,  January  lit* .  1ST!;; 247 

Hooker,  April  15,  1863 255 

Hooker,  May  6,  1863 256 

Hooker,  May  6,  ls63 257 

Hooker,  May  7,  1863 257 

Hooker,  May  8,  1863 2> 

Hooker,  May  14,  1^63 259 

Hooker,  June  5,  1S63 261 

Hooker,  June  10,  1863 262 

Hooker,  June  14,  H>G3 276 

Hooker,  June  14,  1863 276 

Hooker,  June  16,  1863 278 

Schofield,  May  27,  1863 260 

Schofield,  June  22,  1863 279 

Schofield,  October  1,  1S63 311 

Schofield,  October  28,  1863 325 

Grant,  July  13,  1863 286 

Grant,  August  9,  1863 305 

Grant,  April  30,  1S64 359 

Grant,  July  10,  1SG4 369 

Grant,  August  3,  1SG4 371 

Grant,  March  3,  1865 409 

Meade.  March  29,  1S64 351 

Dix,  June  30,  1862 166 

Dix,  May  9,  1863 258 

Hunter,  June  30,  1862 165 

s  Hunter  and  Lane,  Feb.  10.  1862 127 

Sherman,  September  19,  18G4 389 

Sherman,  December  26,  1864 405 


INDEX.  ):',  I 

Letter  to  Major-General  Bumside,  January  \  1863 244 

Letter  to  Major-General  Burnside,  July  27.  1863 293 

Letter  to  Major-General  Curtis,  January  2   1863 242 

Letter  to  Major-General  Curtis,  .July  5,  1863 282 

Letter  to  General  Schurz,  June  16,  1862 160 

Letter  to  General  Schurz,  November  24,  1862 217 

Letter  to  Major-General  Hurlburt,  May  22,  1863 260 

Letter  to  Major-General  Banks,  August  5,  IS63 302 

Letter  to  Major-General  Rosecrans,  October  4,  1863 315 

Letter  to  Major-General  Gilmore,  January   13,  1864 345 

Letter  to  Major-General  Steele,  January  20,  1864 347 

Letter  to  Major-General  Sheridan,  October  22,  1864 389 

Letter  to  General    Hunter  and   Admiral  Du  Pont,  April   14, 

1863 251 

Letter  to  Commander  of  Department  of  the  West,  October 

24,  1861 103 

Letter  to  Flag  Officer  Gold sborough,  May  7,  1862 137 

Letter  to  Flag  Officer  Goldsborough,  May  10,  1862 139 

Letter  to  Lieutenant-General  Scott,  November  I,  1861 105 

Letter  to  General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  July  8,  1863 285 

LETTERS   TO   GOVERNORS. 
Litter  to  Governor  Hicks  and  Mayor  Brown,  April  20,  1861..     68 

Letter  to  Governor  B.  Magoffin,  August  24,  1861 97 

Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  Johnson,  April  27,1862 137 

Letter  to  Governor  Morton,  July  3,  1862 169 

Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  Johnson,  July  11,  1862 171 

Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  September  1  I,  1862...    194 
Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  September  12,  1862...  195 

Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  ( !.  Curtin,  May  1,  1863 255 

Letter  to  Governor  Andrew  G.  Curtin,  May  2,  1863 256 

Letter  to  Governor  Seymour,  July,  1863 289 

Letter  to  Governor  Seymour,  August  7.  1863 303 

Letter  to  Governor  Bradford,  November  2,  18G2 214 

Letter  to  Governor  Ilahn,  March    13,  1864 3  IS 

Letter  to  Governor  Smith,  February  8,  1865 407 

L.  iter  to  Governor  Joel  Parker,  July  20,  L863 290 

Letter  to  Governor  Joel  Parker,  July  25,  1863 291 


432 


INDEX. 


Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 


Letter 
to 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 
Letter 


LETTERS    TO    MEMBERS    OF    CABINET. 

o  Secretary  of  State  Seward,  June  29,  1862 164 

o  Secretary  of  State  Seward,  .June  30,  1862 165 

o  Secretary  of  Navy  Wells,  May  11,  1S6I 72 

o  Secretary  of  Treasury  Chase,  May  25,  1862 147 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  August  17,  1861 97 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  September  IS.  1S61 1<>0 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  January  31,  1862 125 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  December  21,  1863 343 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  April  2,  1865 414 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  April  2,  1805 415 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton.  April  2,1865 415 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  April  2,  1865 416 

o  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  April  3,1865 417 

o  Postmaster-General  Blair,  July  24.  1863 ; 291 

o  Postmaster-General  Blair,  September  23,  ls64 379 

LETTERS    TO    CIVILIANS. 

o  Committee  notifying  him  of  his  First  Nomination 

he  Presidency,  May  23,  1860 14 

o  John  B.  Fry,  August  15,  1860 14 

o  Thurlow  Weed,  August  17, 1860 15 

o  Thurlow  Weed,  December  17,  1860 16 

o  Thurlow  Weed,  February  4,  1861 17 

o  Senor  Molina,  March  17,  1861 63 

o  Mrs.  General  Fremont,  September  12,  1861 99 

o  Hon.  0.  H.  Browning,  September  22,  1861 100 

oCuthbert  Bullitt,  July  2*,  1862 187 

o  Horace  Greeley,  August  22,  1862 192 

o  Hon.  Alexander  Henry,  September  12,  1862 196 

o  Major  John  J.  Key,  September  26,  1862 206 

o  Thomas  H.  Clay,  October  8,  1862  207 

o  Thomas  R.  Smith,  October  21,  1862 212 

o  Hon.  Fernando  Wood,  December  12,  1862 238 

o  Workingmen  of  Manchester,  England,  February  9, 

....;...  248 

250 


1863 

Letter  to  Rev.  Alexander  Reed,  February  22,  1863. 


Index.  433 

Letter  to  New  York  Democrats,  June   12,  1863 263 

Letter  to  Ohio  Democrats,  July  29,  1863 294 

Letter  to  Illinois  Convention,  August  26,  1863  305 

Letter  to  Hon.  Charles  Drake  and  Others,  October  5,  l.c63...  316 

Letter  to  Thurlow  Weed,  October  1  I,  1861 323 

Letter  to  E.  E.  Motriol  and  others,  October  -8,  186:3 327 

Letter  too.  D.  Filley,  December  22,  1863 :;44 

Letter  to  Crosby  and  Nichols,  January    16,  1864 346 

Letter  to  A.  G.  Hodges,  April  4,  1864 351 

Letter  to  F.  A.  Conckling,  June  3,  1864 363 

Letter  to  Hon.  William  Dennison  and  <  Ithers,  June  27,  1864..  368 

Letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Pohlman,  August  15,  1864 371 

Letter  to  Hon.  Henry  J.  Raymond,  August  1."),  1864 ;',72 

Letter  to  Mrs.  Eliza  P.  Gurney,  September  30,  1864 380 

Letter  to  Hon.  Henry  W.  Hoffman,  October   18,  1864 384 

Letter  of  Reply  to  Protest  of  Tennessee,  <  >ctol>er  22,  1864...!   387 

Letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  November  21,  1864 392 

Letter  to  Colonel  E.  D.  Taylor,  December  27.  1864  404 

Letter  to  Dr.  John  Maclean,  December  27,  1864 405 

Letter  to  Thurlow  Weed,  March  15,  1865 112 

Letter  to  Mr.  Ashmun  ami  Friend,  April  1  1,  1865 425 

Letter  to  Hon.  J.  K.  Dubois,  July  1  1,  1863 286 

Letter  to  Hon.  J.  K.  Moorehead,  June   IS,  1863 279 

MESSAGES   TO   CONGRESS. 

First  Message  to  Congress,  July  4,  1861« 72 

First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  J,  1861 1  10 

Message  of  Recommendation  to  Congress,  March  6,  1862 12S 

Message  to  Congress,  April   16,  1862 136 

Message  to  Congress,  May  29,  1862 149 

Message  to  Congress,  July  17,  1862  176 

Second  Annual  Message,  December  1,1862 21V 

Message  to  Congress,  J  an  nary  1 9,  1563 211 

Third  Annual  Message,  December  8,  1863 330 

Message  to  Congress,  April  28,  1864 357 

Fourth  Annual  Message,  December  G,  1864 393 


434  INDEX. 


PROCLAMATIONS 

Proclamation,  April  15,  1861 66 

Proclamation,  May  3,  1861 70 

Proclamation,  April  10,1862 135 

Proclamation,  May  19,  1862 139 

Proclamation,  September  22,  1862 200 

Proclamation,  November  16,  1862 216 

Proclamation,  January  1,  1863 240 

Proclamation,  March  31,  1803 252 

Proclamation,  June  15,  1S63 277 

Proclamation,  July  15,  1863 287 

Proclamation,  October  3,  1863 313 

Proclamation,  December  8,  1863 338 

ORDERS. 

Memorandum  of  Military  Programme,  July  23,  1861 95 

(ieneral  War  Order  No.  3,  March  8,  1862 130 

General  War  Order,  March  13,  1862 131 

Presidential  Orders,  June  22,  1862 161 

Order  Establishing  Provisional  Court,  October  20,  1862 211 

President's  Order  Relieving  General  McClellan,  November 

5,1862 215 

Approval  of  Court-Martial  Proceedings,  January  21,  1863....  246 

War  Bulletin— Official,  July  31,  1863 301 

Orders  for  National  Salutes,  September  5,  1864 375 

Thanks  to  Ohio  Volunteers,  September  10,  1864 376 

Thanks  to  Volunteers  of  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  and  Wis- 
consin, October  1,  1864 381 

Presidential  Order,  April  6,  1865 417 

CALLS    FOR    NATIONAL    THANKS. 

Call  for  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer,  July,  1863 287 

Call  for  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer,  May  9,  1864 360 

National  Thanks  to  Farragut  and  Canby,  September  3,  1864..  373 

National  Thanks  to  General  Sherman,  September  3,  1864....  374 

Call  for  National  Thanksgiving,  September  3,  1864 37-U 


index.  435 


MISCELLANEOUS. 
Lincoln's  Statement  of  how  he  Entered  Washington,  Febru- 
ary 23,  1861 45 

Letter  on  Missouri  Matters,  November  5,  1861. 106 

Nomination    of   John    Pope  as   Major-General,    March    22, 

L862 132 

Nomination  of  Fit/,  John  Porter  as  Major-General,  July  16, 

1862 175 

Letter  Regarding  Thomas  W.  Knox,  March  20,  1863 251 

Announcement  of  the  Success  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 

July  4,  1863 280 

Communication   to  the   House  of    Representatives,  Novem- 
ber, 1S63 327 

Lincoln's  Description  of  Grant  to  a  Friend,  March,  1864 350 

Communication  to  House  of  Representatives,  April  28,  1864.   358 
Interview   Published    in    New  York   Tribune,  January   30, 

1S61 10 

Words  to  General  Grant,  April  9,  1864 354 

The   President's   Idea  of   Democratic  Policy  and   Strategy, 

May,  1864 360 

Last  Public  Utterances  of  President  Lincoln,  April  14,  1865.  424 

To  Whom  it  May  Concern,  July   18,  1864 370 

Last  Written  Words,  April  14,  1S65 425 

To  Whom  it  May  Concern,  November  1,  1862 213 

To  Whom  it  May  Concern,  October  27,  1803 324 

POEMS    AND    HYMNS. 

1  »h  !    Why  Should  the  Spirit  of  Mortal  be  Proud  '. 61 

Closing  Hymn  at  Lincoln's  Burial 425 


